Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, September 21, 2002
US Budget Deficit Hits 200 Billion Dollars This Year
The US government recorded a budget shortfall of more than 200 billion dollars in the first 11 month of 2002 fiscal year, the Treasury Department reported Friday.
The US government recorded a budget shortfall of more than 200 billion dollars in the first 11 month of 2002 fiscal year, the Treasury Department reported Friday.
It is in sharp contrast of a budget surplus of 91.8 billion dollars in the same period of last fiscal year. The US government is on its way to running up a sizable deficit for the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30, the first red ink since 1997.
The department said that government revenues totaled 1.66 trillion US dollars through the first 11 months of the budget year,down by 9.4 percent from the 1.83 trillion during the corresponding 11 months a year ago. Revenues from individual income taxes so far this year totaled just 766.6 billion dollars, down 16 percent from the corresponding period a year ago.
Government spending through August totaled 1.86 trillion dollars, up 6.9 percent from the 1.74 trillion dollars in the first 11 months of the last budget year.
The US government recorded a budget deficit of 54.7 billion dollars in August. It reflected spending of 179.3 billion dollar during the month and revenues of 124.6 billion dollars.
The Bush administration expects the deficit for the 2002 budget year to be around 165 billion dollars, the first red ink after four consecutive years of budget surplus.