New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday exuded confidence that the government will meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.4 percent of the GDP for the year ending March 2026.
The Union Budget presented in Parliament in February by the Finance Minister had pegged the fiscal deficit at Rs 15.69 lakh crore, or 4.4 percent, of the GDP in 2025-26 against 4.8 per cent in 2024-25.
The Finance Minister is scheduled to present the next Union Budget in February 2026.
Sitharaman further said that from now onwards, the government's focus will be on the debt-to-GDP ratio.
"... It is important for us and for achieving Viksit Bharat, we need to consciously be on the path of reforming and bringing in prudential fiscal management. That's the responsibility of every finance minister," she added.
The central government's debt is estimated at 56.1 percent of the GDP in BE 2025-26, lower than 57.1 percent of GDP in RE 2024-25.
According to the revised Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, the government is mandated to reduce the fiscal deficit to less than 4.5 percent by fiscal 2025-26.
In her speech, the minister said the citizens should believe in themselves and the country's economy.
"We should not be swayed by those who say our economy is not up to the mark. Who can ever tell a nation of 140 crore people that we are a dead economy? It’s alright for people from outside to taunt us, but we within the country should never decry the efforts and achievements of our own people," she said.
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