FM Jaitley may still manage to meet FY19 fiscal deficit target: Here's why

In 2 of the 3 pre-election years since FRBM idea was mooted, the finance ministry has succeeded in meeting fiscal targets; the only exception was 2008, when a global meltdown weighed on the economy

If the past trend is anything to go by, the finance ministry should be able to contain the Centre's fiscal deficit in 2018-19. The ministry has a successful record of reining in the fiscal record in two of the three pre-election years since the idea of the fiscal responsibility and budgetary management (FRBM) was mooted. 

The FRBM Act was introduced in Parliament by the then finance minister, Yashwant Sinha, in 2000, but it got enacted only in July, 2004, when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government came to power. The FRBM Act mandated the fiscal deficit to be reduced every