US budget deficit up slightly to $107.7 billion in August
WASHINGTON — The federal government recorded a slightly larger deficit in August than a year ago, while the deficit through the first 11 months of this budget year is well above the same period last year.
The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the August deficit totalled $107.7 billion, up 0.5 per cent from a deficit of $107.1 billion in August 2016. With one month to go in the 2017 budget year, the deficit totals $673.7 billion, 8.8 per cent above the deficit for the same period a year ago.
The Congressional Budget Office in July boosted its estimate for this year’s deficit to $693 billion, which would be 18.3 per cent higher than the 2016 deficit of $585.6 billion, a deterioration that reflects in part smaller-than-expected revenue gains this year.
The CBO’s July estimate represented a sharp increase of $134 billion from the agency’s January forecast. However, since that time, CBO has indicated that it might have been too pessimistic in its revised forecast. Some private economists are forecasting a 2017 deficit of around $635 billion. That forecast assumes the government will run a surplus in September, which it has done in 53 of the past 62 Septembers.