Editorial Cloze Test Quiz

Eight months into the financial year, or until end November, the Union government’s fiscal deficit — the amount by which its expenditure exceeds revenue — had already overshot the year’s budget _______(1)________by a significant ₹65,573 crore. And as in everything with numbers, there are several interesting insights to be had, some fairly straightforward and self-explanatory and others less obvious and disconcerting. One of the biggest contributors to the wider fiscal slippage has clearly been the faster pace at ______(2)_______total expenditure has grown. While the government had in the Union Budget provided for overall spending to increase by a modest 6.6% _______(3)________the revised estimates for the previous fiscal, data for April-November released by the Controller General of Accounts show a 14.9% jump year-on-year. A look at the individual ministries and how they have front-loaded their spending shows wide variability with several ministries still significantly underutilising their budget allocations over the first eight months. Similarly, revenue receipts for the eight-month period _______(4)________an underwhelming 1.1% year-on-year increase while the budget projection was for 6.5% growth. Even if some of the sluggishness in revenue receipts can be explained by the fact that the current year has been a one-off, transitional period given that the GST regime was ________(5)__________from July 1, there are other pressure points that policymakers need to square up with. Non-tax revenue at 36.5% of budget estimates compares unfavourably with the 54.2% garnered in the corresponding period of the previous year.

1.
a) Attack
b) Target
c) Focus
d) Level

2.
a) Where
b) When
c) What
d) Which

3.
a) By
b) On
c) Over
d) At

4.
a) Have shown
b) Show
c) Had shown
d) Will show

5.
a) Imposed
b) Performed
c) Implemented
d) Enforced