The central government is on course to come close to the fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent for the recently concluded fiscal year, finance ministry sources have told Business Today TV.
“Our expenditure and revenue estimates are very close to the revised estimates for fiscal 2022-23. The fiscal deficit will be very close to the target of 6.4 per cent”, an official said.
Earlier today, provisional data on direct tax collections for the fiscal year ending March 31 showed collections of Rs 16.61 lakh crore, net of refunds.
The collections are Rs 11,000 crore higher than therevised estimate of Rs 16.5 lakh crore for direct tax collections. The revised estimate for expenditure stands at Rs 41.8 lakh crore.
The fiscal deficit hit 82.8 per cent of the revised estimate until February this fiscal year, just a notch higher than the 82.7 per cent a year before, according to official data released last week.