The government will meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.8 per cent of GDP for the current financial year, Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram said on Thursday.
"We will meet the fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal year," he said.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram has on many occasions reiterated that a red line has been drawn for the fiscal deficit and it will not be breached. The government wants to narrow the deficit from 4.9 per cent of GDP last year.
The fiscal deficit in the first six months of the current financial year touched Rs 4.12 lakh crore, or 76 per cent of the budget estimate of Rs 5.42 lakh crore, government data showed.
A year earlier, the difference between government receipts and spending had reached 65.6 per cent of the budget target.
The government on September 18 unveiled austerity measures that will cut non-plan expenditure by 10 per cent.
The steps include a freeze on fresh appointments and a bar on executive class air travel.
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