On January 31, 2020, According to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the fiscal deficit reached 132.4 % of the full fiscal target in December 2019 itself due to the slow pace of revenue collection in the current financial year-FY 2019-2020.
As per the data, in the first 9 months of the current FY, the fiscal deficit i.e. the difference between expenses & receipts stood at Rs 9,31,725 ​​crore.While, the government in its Medium Term Fiscal Policy (MTFP) Statement presented with the Budget 2019-20, had set a target of limiting the fiscal deficit to Rs 7,03,760 crore, or 3.3 % of gross domestic product (GDP), in the current FY ending March 2020.
Key Points:
i.Previous fiscal: In the first nine months of FY 2018-19, the fiscal deficit was 112.4 % of the budget estimate (BE).
ii.Receipts:
Till December 2019, in the current FY 20,the government has received revenue receipts of Rs 11.46 lakh crore, which is just 58.4 % of the budget estimate. The collection was 62. 8 % of the budget estimate in the same period of the last financial year (2018-19).
iii.Expenditure:
According to the data, the total expenditure in the current financial year during the reporting period was Rs 21.09 lakh crore, ie 75.7 % of the budget estimate.
This was 75 % of the budget estimate for the same period in the previous fiscal (2018-19).
Capital expenditure:Out of the total spending in the first three quarters of the current financial year, capital expenditure accounted for 75.6 %of the budget estimates. It was 70.6 % of the budget estimate in the same period of the previous fiscal.
iv.The Economic Survey estimates: The Economic Survey projectes the country’s economic growth rate to be 6-6.5 % during the financial year 2020-21. At the same time, GDP (Gross Domestic Product ) growth can be 5 % in the financial year 2019-20, which will be the slowest growth rate in the last 11 years.
About CGA (Controller General of Accounts (CGA):
CGA,under the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, is the Principal Accounting Adviser to Government of India and is responsible for establishing and maintaining a technically sound Management Accounting System.
Current CGA– Smt. Soma Roy Burman.
