The Centre can meet the fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent for 2022-23 if there are no excise duty cuts to lower high oil prices and additional spending on subsidies, a German brokerage said on Thursday.
Meeting the budgeted target will be possible if there is no further cut on excise duties, Deutsche Bank’s chief economist Kaushik Das said.
The note said that the recent cuts in excise duties, coupled with the higher spending on fertiliser, food and fuel subsidies have led to “upside risks” on the fiscal deficit target. “…Our analysis of the fiscal arithmetic at this juncture suggests that the central government can still potentially hold the FY23 fiscal deficit close to the target of 6.4 per cent of GDP,
