New Delhi. On the last Friday of June, the central government released some important economic data which throws light on the direction and condition of the country's economy. In May, the growth rate of the country's eight important basic industries was 6.3 percent. This is less than the growth rate of 6.7 percent registered in April. There has been a decline in the production of cement, crude oil and fertilizers, which could be a matter of concern for the government. The share of eight major basic industries (coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery, fertilizer, steel, cement and electricity) in the country's total industrial production is 40.27 percent.

Another figure is related to the government's expenditure and expenditure, on the basis of which the state of fiscal balance is known. According to this, the fiscal deficit in the first two months of the financial year 2024-25 was only three percent. It is worth noting here that during this period, there are many restrictions on government expenditure due to the general elections. This is a major reason for the low level of deficit. In the same period of the last financial year, the level of fiscal deficit was 11.8 percent.

However, for this whole year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had set a fiscal deficit target of 5.1 percent while presenting the interim budget. After three weeks, the Finance Minister will present the full year budget and many experts believe that she can reduce the level of the pre-determined target. In April-May, 2024, the total tax collection of the government was Rs 3.19 lakh crore while the total expenditure was Rs 6.23 lakh crore.

The Finance Ministry has also released a figure regarding its liabilities. This is of the last financial year. The amount of gross liabilities on the Government of India till March 2024 was Rs 171.78 lakh crore. In December 2023, this amount was Rs 166.14 lakh crore.

In this way, there has been an increase of 3.4 percent in one quarter. The Finance Ministry says that 90.2 percent of the total liability of the government is public debt. In this quarter, the government has raised less amount of loan from outside than expected. This is necessary to reduce the fiscal deficit to 5.1 percent during the current financial year and to 4.5 percent in the year 2025-26.