By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Friday officially sounded a warning that fiscal deficit targets could be breached in the current fiscal, amid a slowing economy, lax tax collections and global economic uncertainty.
“Fiscal deficit and revenue deficit as proportion of budget Estimates have exceeded the threshold levels of 45 percent of budget estimates (BE) for the first half of 2011-12,” according to the mid-year analysis presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament.
“The fiscal performance of first half indicates that it would be a challenge for the government to meet the deficit targets as set in the budget estimates,” the document added.
The government had targeted a fiscal deficit of 4.6 percent in the current fiscal, while it had calculated a revenue deficit of 3.4 percent of the gross domestic product.
The revision came after latest figures showed the economy grew by its slowest in over two years at 6.9 percent in the quarter ending September and 7.3 percent on an average in the first six months of 2011-12.
The government had earned substantial revenues from auction of 3G and BWA (broadband wireless access) spectrum, which helped it to meet deficit targets.
This year, however, there have been no such accruals.