As the government has done well on disinvestment and non-tax revenue collections, the NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has said that the fiscal deficit target for 2017-18 may see only a slight slippage. He also said that the glide path to reduce fiscal deficit could change and government may settle for slightly higher fiscal deficit in 2018-19 as well. Besides, the government is aiming to restrain the fiscal deficit for 2017-18 to 3.2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and 3% in 2018-19.
Kumar said “There could be a fiscal deficit slippage in 2017-18 but not much, I can’t see it slipping very much because government has done lot on disinvestment front and on non tax revenue front”. He added that the glide path could change. Therefore, they might expect slightly higher fiscal deficit target for 2018-19 as well.
NITI Aayog Vice Chairman further said that going forward, tax revenue will be optimistic. Talking about the oil prices, he said “I am afraid, we will have to take the pain. Listing of a very large oil company may be one of the reasons of high oil prices. Also, government is working to reduce our dependence on petroleum product”.
