Govt committed to meet 3.3% fiscal deficit target this year, says finance minister

The government will maintain stability in the economy and meet all economic parameters fixed by the government, interim finance minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday

The government is committed to meet its fiscal deficit target of 3.3% for the current fiscal, interim finance minister Piyush Goyal said.

The government will maintain stability in the economy and meet all economic parameters fixed by the government, he said on Monday, at an event in New Delhi.

“I can assure that we will meet the fiscal deficit target of 3.3%, despite this being an election year,” he said.

Fiscal deficit stood at 3.53% of the GDP, broadly in line with the government’s revised estimates for 2017-18.

The revenue deficit was 2.65% of the GDP. In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit was Rs 5.91 lakh crore, or 99.5%, of the Budget estimates.

In the 2018 Budget, the government had revised the fiscal deficit target for 2017-18 to 3.5% from the earlier estimate of 3.2%.