Fiscal deficit lower at 5.7 per cent in FY'12: CGA

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The government's fiscal deficit during 2011-12 worked out to be 5.7 per cent of the GDP, lower than 5.9 per cent projected in the revised estimates in the Budget.

Fiscal deficit, the difference between the government's total receipts and expenditure, stood at Rs 5,09,731 crore in 2011-12, as per the provisional data released by Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Thursday.

In Budget 2012-13, the government had revised the deficit to 5.9 per cent of the GDP, as against the earlier estimate of 4.6 per cent.

The Centre is aiming to bring it down to 5.1 per cent in the current fiscal. It is targeting to cut the subsidy bill to below 2 per cent of GDP this fiscal and 1.75 per cent in the subsequent years.

According to the CGA data, the total receipt stood at Rs 7,88,713 crore and the expenditure was Rs 12,98,444 crore in 2011-12.

The revenue deficit stood at Rs 3,84,722 crore in 2011-12, which is 4.3 per cent of the GDP.

The government managed fiscal deficit last fiscal through external financing worth Rs 9,158.37 crore and domestic financing of Rs 5,00,572.29 crore.

Meanwhile, as per the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data released by the CSO today, the country's GDP growth rate was 6.5 per cent in 2011-12, as against the earlier estimate of 6.9 per cent.