U.S. Budget Deficit Jumps First Nine Months of Fiscal Year
- Gap widens by 16% to $607 billion from the year-earlier period
- Outlays rose on higher spending on social security, Medicare
Photographer: Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg
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The U.S. budget deficit widened by 16 percent to $607 billion three-quarters of the way through Donald Trump’s first full fiscal year as president, as spending accelerated faster than revenue.
The shortfall in the nine months through June was larger than the $523 billion gap in the same period of fiscal 2017, according to a report from the Treasury Department released Thursday. Revenue rose to $2.54 trillion in the period, up 1.3 percent from a year earlier. Spending rose 3.9 percent to $3.15 trillion.