Question:medium

Write the relationship between the revenue deficit and the fiscal deficit. Are fiscal deficits inflationary?

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Revenue deficit is a part of fiscal deficit; deficits financed by money creation tend to be inflationary.
Updated On: Sep 23, 2026
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Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Picture fiscal deficit as an umbrella:
Total borrowing (fiscal deficit) covers both current spending needs (captured by revenue deficit) and capital/investment spending needs — so revenue deficit sits inside fiscal deficit as one slice of it.

Step 2: Judge the "quality" of the deficit using this relationship:
If most of the fiscal deficit is revenue deficit, the government is borrowing mainly to pay for salaries, subsidies, and interest — not to build assets; that is considered a weaker fiscal position than if most of the deficit funds capital expenditure.

Step 3: Connect financing method to inflation:
When the deficit is financed by simply printing more currency/RBI credit (monetised deficit financing), more money chases the same goods, and since this is a classic "too much money chasing too few goods" scenario, it tends to be inflationary; deficits financed by market borrowing are less directly inflationary but can still raise demand.

Final Answer:
Revenue deficit ⊆ fiscal deficit (a component of it); and yes, fiscal deficits are generally inflationary, especially when monetised.
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