Fiscal deficit of 19 states worst in past 8-years.

THE rising fiscal deficit of state governments has become a matter of great concern as the deficit of 19 states amounted to 25.9 per cent of the budget estimate in the third quarter of this fiscal, which is the worst in eight years. "Aggregate fiscal deficit of 19 states amounted to 25.9 per cent of the budget estimate (BE) in 3QFY19, almost double the average of 13.2 per cent during the last five years," said the Economy Observer, a report by Motilal Oswal.

Consequently, in the first nine months, the aggregate fiscal deficit of the 19 states touched 62.5 per cent of the BE versus an average of 44.3 per cent across the last five years-the worst in at least the past eight years, it said. The Centre's fiscal...