Which of the following deficit shows excess of government expenditure over receipts other than burden of interest payments ?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Primary Deficit
The deficit that leaves out the burden of interest payments is the primary deficit. It shows the gap arising from the present year’s spending and receipts alone.
Option (1) Revenue Deficit — Incorrect. This is the excess of revenue expenditure over revenue receipts. It looks at the revenue account only, and interest payments stay in it.
Option (2) Fiscal Deficit — Incorrect. This is total expenditure minus total receipts excluding borrowing. Total expenditure here still includes interest payments.
Option (3) Primary Deficit — Correct. It is the fiscal deficit minus interest payments.
Option (4) Budgetary Deficit — Incorrect. This is the general excess of the government’s total expenditure over its total receipts. No interest payment is taken out of it.
Note: A same/similar question was asked in CUET (UG) in the papers below.
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
| – | 26-05 S2 | – | – | 06-08 S2 |
NCERT (2026-27): “Fiscal Deficit: Fiscal deficit is the difference between the government’s total expenditure and its total receipts excluding borrowing Primary Deficit: We must note that the borrowing requirement of the government includes interest obligations on accumulated debt. The goal of measuring primary deficit is to focus on present fiscal imbalances. To obtain an estimate of borrowing on account of current expenditures exceeding revenues, we need to calculate what has been called the primary deficit. It is simply the fiscal deficit minus the interest payments |