The government's fiscal deficit has shot up to around 87.8 per cent of the budgeted figure in the first seven months of the current financial year (April-March 2008-09) itself, amidst rising government spending.

This is way above the fiscal deficit 54.5 per cent of budget estimate for the last fiscal.

The difference between total receipts and expenditure stood at Rs1,17,070 crore till October 2008.

The central government's revenue stood at Rs2,89,400 crore during the first seven months of fiscal 2008-09, about 48 per cent of the estimated figure for the entire year, against 50.7 per cent a year ago.

Expenditure stood at Rs4,08,395 crore, about 54.4 per cent of the budgeted figure, slightly up from 54.2 per cent in the year-ago period.

Most of the revenue came from taxes at Rs2,32,396 crore, while the expenditure came mostly from the non-plan head, at Rs2,88,657 crore, constituting 56.9 per cent of estimated figure for the year.

Plan expenditure stood at Rs1,19,738 crore, which represents 49.2 per cent of Rs2,43,386 crore budgeted for the year. 

The revenue deficit, ie, the gap between current expenditure over current revenue, surpassed estimates for the whole year by 57.7 per cent. It stood at Rs 87,027 crore during April-October 2008 as against Rs55,184 crore for the entire fiscal.

Meanwhile, tax receipts of the central government, after growing steadily for the past 63 months, declined for the first time in October 2008 over October 2007.

Finance minister P Chidambaram already indicated that the government may require more time to eliminate revenue deficit and reduce fiscal deficit below 3 per cent as required by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management Act. ''This is not the year to worry about fiscal deficit'', the minister said.