Budget Expectations Survey: What the market thinks about fiscal deficit?

A fiscal deficit higher than 5.9 percent of GDP for FY24 will be negative for the bond market.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is slated to present the Union Budget 2023-24 in the Lok Sabha on February 1, 2023.

Moneycontrol conducted a survey of 30 market experts, including fund managers, analysts, heads of research, chief investment strategists and officers, to get responses on some important questions relating to the upcoming Union Budget.

Here's what the market thinks about Fiscal Deficit:

Half the surveyed participants believe that fiscal deficit for FY24 at 6.0 percent is worse than what they expected, whereas on being asked about their reaction if the figure stood at 5.6 percent, 76.7 percent believed it will be pleasantly surprising.

Meanwhile, fiscal deficit for FY24 at 5.8 percent would satisfy the market, suggested the survey.

Recently, Morgan Stanley said that it expects fiscal deficit to be 5.9 percent of the GDP in FY24, against 6.4 percent estimated for FY23.

Also Read | Budget 2023: Fiscal math from the market’s lens