Pre-poll spending spike lifts fiscal deficit to 86.5% by February
Signalling a sharp rise in spending ahead of the fiscal year-end, the Centre’s fiscal deficit soared from 64% of the revised estimates in January to 86.5% by the end of February, with capital expenditure recording a sequential bounce to ₹84,400 crore last month. In absolute value terms, the deficit hit ₹15 lakh crore in the first eleven months of 2023-24, from just ₹11 lakh crore at the end of January, and was almost 3.5% over the ₹14.5 lakh crore over the same period in the last financial year.
