In the month of May, the government's fiscal deficit touched 52 percent of budget estimate for the full financial year 2019-20. In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit or the gap between expenditure and revenue, was Rs 3,66,157 crore, as per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).

Fiscal deficit occurs when a government's total expenditure exceeds the total revenue made in a given year. At the beginning of a year, a target is set by the government on the same. For 2019-20, the fiscal deficit was estimated at Rs 7.03 lakh crore. The government aims to restrict the fiscal deficit at 3.4 percent of the GDP (gross domestic product) during the current fiscal, same as the previous financial year.

In 2018-19, fiscal deficit had touched 55.3 percent of the budget estimate in the first two months.

Revenue receipts of the government during April-May 2019 was 7.3 percent of the Budget Estimate (BE), similar to the year before.

However, the capital expenditure was only 14.2 percent of the BE as compared to 21.3 percent in the year-ago period.

Total expenditure during April-May period stood at Rs 5.12 lakh crore or 18.4 percent of BE. It was 19.4 percent of BE in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.