Fiscal deficit up by 11.51%

The fiscal deficit for the first four months (April-July) of 2006-07 stood at Rs 86,404 crore, higher by 11.51 per cent over the Rs 77,480 crore recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The revenue deficit for the same period was Rs 78,210 crore, 13.46 per cent more than previous year's Rs 68,929 crore.

In the April-July 2006 period, the fiscal deficit touched 58.1 per cent of the year's budget estimates of Rs 1,48,686 crore. For the same period, revenue deficit stood at 92.3 per cent of the budgeted estimate of Rs 84,727 crore.

The fiscal deficit stood at 2.2 per cent of the GDP against the budget estimate of 3.8 per cent. Revenue deficit was 1.93 per cent of the GDP, lower than the estimate of 2.1 per cent.

After the government ran up almost half the year's fiscal deficit in the first quarter of 2006-07, the subsequent growth has been slow. The sharp growth in plan expenditure in the first quarter was primarily responsible for the magnitude of fiscal deficit then.

For the four-month period, the plan expenditure stood at Rs 45,971 crore, higher by 22.15 per cent in relation to the Rs 37,632 Plan expenditure recorded in the corresponding period of last year.

The Plan expenditure in the first quarter increased by 59 per cent over the corresponding period last financial year on account of large advance transfers made for the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

The revenue receipts for the April-July 2006 period stood at Rs 77,336 crore, 19.2 per cent of the budget estimates of Rs 4.03 lakh crore.