The Centre's fiscal deficit reached 36 per cent of the full-year target in the first five months of the financial year 2023-24. According to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the fiscal deficit till the end of August was Rs 6.42 lakh crore.

In the same period of financial year 2022-23, the fiscal deficit was 32.6 percent of the budget estimate. In the Union Budget, the government has estimated to bring the fiscal deficit to 5.9 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the current financial year 2023-24.

Fiscal deficit in the financial year 2022-23 stood at 6.4 percent of GDP whereas earlier it was estimated to be 6.71 percent. Unveiling the revenue-expenditure data of the central government for the April-August period of the financial year 2023-24, the CGA said that the net tax revenue stood at 34.5 per cent of the budget estimate for the current financial year i.e. Rs 8.03 lakh crore.

Net tax revenue collection at the end of August 2022 was 36.2 percent. The total expenditure of the central government in the first five months stood at Rs 16.71 lakh crore or 37.1 percent of the budget estimate. A year ago this expenditure was 35.2 percent of the budget estimate.

Of the total expenditure, Rs 12.97 lakh crore was in the revenue account and Rs 3.73 lakh crore was in the capital account. Fiscal deficit is the difference between the total expenditure and revenue of the government. This is an indication of the total borrowing that the government needs.