In percentage terms, the Centre's fiscal deficit at the end of February stood at 82.7 per cent of the full year budget target, mainly on account of higher expenditure. In the last financial year, the fiscal gap between the expenditure and revenue was 76 per cent of the Revised Estimate of 2020-21. In actual terms, as per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts, the deficit stood at Rs 13.16 trillion at the end of February. The total receipts of central government were 83.9 percent of the Revised Estimate of Budget 2021-22. or Rs 18.27 trillion in absolute terms. It was 88.2 per cent of the Revised Estimate of 2020-21 in the corresponding period last financial year. The government's total expenditure was at Rs 31.43 trillion or 83.4 per cent of the current year's RE. It was 81.7 per cent of Revised Estimate in the corresponding period last financial year.

Deficits can be thought of as a ____ which add to the __________ of debt. 

Which of the following options fits best in the above blanks? 

Flow, stock

The concepts of deficits and debt are closely related. Deficits can be thought of as a flow which add to the stock of debt. If the government continues to borrow year after year to finance the deficit, it leads to the accumulation of debt.