Government confident of meeting 3.5% fiscal deficit target

New Delhi, March 29 (IANS) With India's April-February fiscal deficit having already crossed 120 per cent of the full year's target, the government on Thurday said it was confident of keeping the deficit within the targeted 3.5 per cent range.

The data released by the Comptroller General of Accounts (CGA) on Wednesday showed that India's budgetary fiscal deficit for the 11 months ended in February stood at 120.3 per cent -- Rs 7.15 lakh crore -- of the full year's revised target of Rs 5.94 lakh crore.

Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said the CGA data was only till February-end and that the latest numbers available till March 28 "are very close to revised estimates".

"Fiscal accounts numbers released yesterday (Wednesday) indicated end-February position. We now have flash numbers until March 28. We are very close to RE (revised estimates) for both fiscal deficit and revenue deficit. (We are) Quite confident that fiscal deficit will be within 3.5 per cent of GDP," Garg tweeted.

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