In order to reduce the India's fiscal deficit, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that greater efforts will be required as the interim budget envisages a slower pace of fiscal consolidation than previously planned. Ranil Salgado, IMF mission chief for India, stated ‘the interim budget envisages a slower pace of fiscal consolidation than previously planned, delaying the time to reach the medium-term central-government debt target of 40 percent of GDP’.
Salgado said in order to ensure that the debt target is met by 2025, there will be requirement of greater efforts. He added in that regard, further steps to increase GST compliance will be critical to reach budgeted revenue goals.
Besides, government data showed that Fiscal deficit, or gap between Government's expenditure and revenue, touched 112.4 per cent of the full-year budget target of Rs 6.24 lakh crore at the end of December due to lower revenue collections. The fiscal deficit, stood at Rs 7.01 lakh crore during April-December of the current financial year (FY19) which ends in March.