Economic Affairs Secretary SC Garg on Friday said the Centre has reduced its gross borrowing estimate for the current financial year by Rs 70,000 crore, PTI reported. Garg said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre would contain its fiscal deficit target at 3.3%.
Garg said the Centre would borrow Rs 2.46 lakh crore in the second half of the fiscal year as compared to the Rs 2.88 lakh crore it borrowed during April-September of 2018-’19. The government would launch inflation-indexed bonds, and one or two bond issues may be released this fiscal, he added.
The senior bureaucrat said the nation’s fiscal management was completely on track and the Centre was confident of meeting its revenue collection target projected in the budget.
Garg also said the Centre was studying the developments in the Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services case. On Thursday, the company announced it had defaulted on seven new payments amounting to Rs 395.46 crore. “We will ensure no undue impact takes place due to development on IL&FS front,” he added.
The Centre announced on December 27, 2017, that it would borrow an additional Rs 50,000 crore for the remainder of the fiscal year. The fiscal deficit for 2017 had already exceeded the government’s target of 3.2% of Gross Domestic Product in November. The reduction in additional borrowing may prevent it from increasing further.
In January, the Finance Ministry announced it would reduce additional borrowing to Rs 20,000 crore for the 2017-’18 fiscal year, down from the Rs 50,000 crore it had earlier planned to raise.
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