• Borrowing calendar for the next financial year was announced and the government said that it will raise Rs 4.42 lakh crore through gilts in the first half of FY20.
• Gilts are bonds that are issued by the British government, and they are generally considered low-risk investments. Gilts are the U.K. equivalent of U.S. Treasury securities.
• The gross borrowing of Rs.7.10 lakh crore for the entire year is significantly higher than the Rs.5.35 lakh crore borrowing programme for financial year 2018-19 which is 62.30% of total borrowings.
• Gross borrowing, is the total public debt that the government is liable to pay.
• The net borrowing, which does not include repayments of past loans, has been projected at Rs 3.4 lakh crore for the April-September 2019 period.
• Fiscal deficit target set in the Union Budget is 3.4% of the Gross Domestic Product.
• The government is also planning to introduce new seven-year benchmark government security and may extended 15-19 years gilt maturity bracket to 15-24 years.