The government’s fiscal deficit for the first nine months of the current fiscal widened to 59.8 per cent of the budget estimates due to subdued revenue collection, finance ministry data released on Tuesday showed.

In actual terms, fiscal deficit — which is the difference between expenditure and revenue — was Rs 9,92,976 crore during the April-December period of 2022-23.

In the corresponding period last year, the deficit was 50.4 per cent of the Budget Estimates of 2021-22.

Core sector growth

The output of eight infrastructure sectors rose at a three-month high of 7.4 per cent in December 2022 against 4.1 per cent in the same month of the previous year on a better show by coal, fertiliser, steel, and electricity segments, the official data released today showed.

Crude oil output, however, contracted by 1.2 per cent in December last year. The production of eight key sectors rose by 5.7 per cent in November 2022.