- Finance Minister has announced the fiscal deficit target for 2019-20 at 3.3% of GDP from 3.4% set in the Interim Budget presented on February 1, 2019.
- Fiscal deficit is the amount of money that the government needs to borrow in a given year because their expenses were more than their revenues.
- The main reason for decrease in fiscal deficit target is that there was an increase on the revenue side while expenditure is being controlled.
- To achieve the fiscal deficit target,the government is relying on (a)disinvestment income (b)higher taxes on the rich and (c)increased excise duties on petrol,diesel,precious metals and tobacco products.
- The government has budgeted a higher disinvestment target for 2019-20 of ₹1.05 lakh crore compared to the ₹80,000 crore budgeted in the previous year.Disinvestment is defined as the action of an organisation or government selling or liquidating an asset or subsidiary.
- Apart from this,the government has budgeted a dividend from the Reserve Bank of India amounting to about ₹90,000 crore.
