'Fiscal deficit to be 3% of GSDP'

FINANCE Minister Thangam Thennarasu said the fiscal deficit (FD) of the state government is estimated to decrease to 3% (₹1,06,963 crore) of the GSDP during 2025-26.

- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai

This is after the actual FD for 2023-24, and the revised FD estimate for 2024-25, respectively coming down from 3.45% and 3.44% as projected earlier to 3.32% and 3.26%.

While Thennarasu had said during the last year's budget that the state was taking a "glide path" of fiscal consolidation by gradual reduction of the FD, the budget presented for 2025-26 on Friday looks at a sharp reduction to 3%.

This is despite the state falling short of its last year's target of total revenue receipts, which was revised downwards from ₹2.99 lakh (Budget estimate - BE - 2024-25) crore to ₹2.93 lakh crore in the Revised Estimate (RE) 2024-25.