fiscal deficit

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the difference between a government's total expenditure and its total revenue (excluding borrowing) over a given period, typically a fiscal year; a fiscal deficit indicates that the government is spending more than it collects in taxes and other non-debt receipts, requiring it to borrow to finance the gap; deficits are measured both in absolute terms and as a percentage of gross domestic product; economists disagree about whether deficits are intrinsically harmful — Keynesian theory holds that deficit spending can stimulate a depressed economy — or whether they crowd out private investment, burden future taxpayers, and risk fiscal crisis if debt accumulates beyond sustainable levels; the structural deficit strips out the effects of the business cycle to measure the underlying fiscal position