At Rs 18.21 lakh crore, 2020-21 fiscal deficit is 9.3% of GDP: Controller General

New Delhi: Fiscal deficit for 2020-21 was at 9.3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), lower than 9.5 per cent estimated by the Finance Ministry in the revised Budget estimates, according to the CGA data.

Unveiling the revenue-expenditure data of the Union government for 2020-21, the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Monday said that the revenue deficit at the end of the fiscal was 7.42 per cent. In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit works out to be Rs 18,21,461 crore.

For this financial year, the government had initially pegged the fiscal deficit at Rs 7.96 lakh crore or 3.5 per cent of the GDP in the budget presented in February 2020.

The government in the revised estimates in the Budget for 2021-22 forecast a higher fiscal deficit of 9.5 per cent of the GDP or Rs 18,48,655 crore for the fiscal ended in March due to a rise in expenditure on account of the outbreak of COVID-19 and moderation in revenue during this fiscal year.

Fiscal deficit had soared to a high of 4.6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2019-20, mainly due to poor revenue realisation.