April-Feb fiscal deficit at 97.4% of FY13 target: Govt

Moneycontrol Bureau

The government Thursday released figures for fiscal spending and receipts, showing fiscal deficit for April-February at Rs 5.07 lakh crore, or 97.4 percent of the target for the current financial year.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram had set a target for fiscal deficit for FY13 at 5.3 percent of GDP, and said in the Budget that the goal would be achieved.

There has been criticism that the finance ministry had cut down sharply on Plan Expenditure to meet the fiscal deficit target, and that lower government spending would aggravate the slowdown.

The government spending in February was Rs 1.08 lakh crore, against Rs 1.05 lakh crore during the same month last year. However, fiscal deficit during the month fell sharply to Rs 41,680 crore, against Rs 58,600 crore in February last year.

The government collected Rs 66,060 crore in February by way of taxes (Rs 54,100 crore last year), and the revenue deficit during the month was Rs 43,900 crore (Rs 47,100 crore last year).

The RBI will announce the current account deficit for October-December later today.

Also Read: Current account deficit may hit record high of 6.4% in Q3