Govt meets FY17 fiscal deficit target

The government has met its fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product for 2016-17. From official data issued on Wednesday, the deficit in absolute terms was Rs 5.35 lakh crore; the budgeted estimate had been Rs 5.34 lakh crore. As a percentage of GDP (at current prices) of Rs 151.8 lakh crore, that comes to 3.52 per cent. The latest provisional GDP data was also issued on Wednesday.

This was achieved in spite of a higher than budgeted capital expenditure for the year. “Encouragingly, tax inflows and capital spending exceeded the revised estimates, thereby offsetting the anticipated