Government to borrow more than planned in interim budget: CMIE
Government to borrow more than planned in interim budget: CMIE
Mumbai: The government borrowing in the first half of the current fiscal is expected to be higher than Rs2,41,000 crore projected in the interim budget, economic think-tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has said.
“(The) central government borrowing through dated securities was pegged at Rs2,41,000 crore for the first half of 2009-10. The actual borrowing is likely to turn out to be higher than this figure," the CMIE said here in its monthly review for June.
Higher borrowing meant widening of fiscal deficit, which is already high this year because of the stimulus packages announced by the government to prop up growth in the face of global recession.
Higher expenditure than planned but lower revenue receipts than expected in the interim budget were the reasons cited by the CMIE for increased government’s borrowings.
“In April 2009 itself, (the) central government expenditure rose by 43% to Rs66,217 crore, while tax receipts were down by 17% to Rs19,869 crore. Lower than expected tax receipts may prompt the government to borrow more from the market," the CMIE said.
Excise collections in April also were down by 52.6%, or Rs4,670 crore, which according to the economic think-tank, could be because of the excise reliefs given in the stimulus packages of the central government.
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