The country’s economic growth rate in the third quarter of the current financial year 2021-22 was 5.4 percent in October-December. According to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Monday, the GDP growth rate was 0.7 per cent in the same quarter of the previous fiscal. According to the second advance estimate of the NSO, the GDP growth rate is likely to be 8.9 percent in the financial year 2021-22, while the first advance estimate released in January had projected the growth rate to be 9.2 percent. It had declined by 6.6 percent in the financial year 2020-21.
In the first quarter of the current financial year, the growth rate of the economy was 20.3 percent due to weak comparative base. The GDP growth rate in the second quarter was 8.5 percent. It is noteworthy that China’s economic growth rate has been 4 percent in the October-December, 2021 quarter.
58.9 percent of fiscal deficit target: The fiscal deficit of the central government at the end of January was 58.9 percent of the annual budget target for the financial year 2021-22. This has been said in the official figures released on Monday. The fiscal deficit stood at 66.8 per cent of the Revised Estimates (RE) for 2020-21 during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. According to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the actual loss at the end of January, 2022 stood at Rs 9,37,868 crore as against the revised annual estimate of Rs 15.91 lakh crore. The difference between the total revenue and total expenditure of the government is called the fiscal deficit of the country. It is estimated to be 6.9 per cent during the current financial year, as against 6.8 per cent earlier. The total receipts of the government stood at Rs 18.71 lakh crore at the end of January, which is 85.9 per cent of the revised estimate for 2021-22. This collection was around 80 per cent of the revised estimate in the corresponding period of the last financial year.