'May fall short of stake sale target'

Fiscal deficit at 78.8% of target

The Centre’s fiscal deficit during the April-December period stood at Rs 4.04 lakh crore or 78.8 per cent of the Budget Estimate of Rs 5.14 lakh crore, according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts.

During the same period in the previous fiscal year, the deficit was 92.3 per cent of the target.

The improvement has been brought about by a strict tightening of the expenditure since September and some fruition of the efforts to arrest the fall in tax revenue growth.

The government is aiming to contain fiscal deficit at 5.3 per cent of the GDP during current fiscal, despite a difficult economic environment that has resulted in less than anticipated level of growth in tax and non-tax revenue.