"Dedicated to exposing the lies and impeachable offenses of George W. Bush"

2006 Fiscal Year Budget Deficit 247.7 billion. First two months of 2007, 124.91 billion
Fairfax New Zealand Limited
December 16, 2006

WASHINGTON: The US government posted a $US75.62 billion ($NZ111.28 billion) federal budget deficit in November, down 9 per cent from a year ago as receipts hit a record for the budget year's second month, a Treasury Department report showed on Tuesday.

The deficit for November, the second month of fiscal 2007, compared with an $US83.07 billion deficit in November 2005. The gap, however, was slightly bigger than the $US73.0 billion deficit forecast by Wall Street economists in a Reuters poll.

November receipts reached a record for the month at $US145.87 billion, beating the previous high of $US138.84 billion in November 2005, a Treasury spokeswoman said.

November outlays totalled $US221.48 billion, just below November 2005's outlays of $US221.91 billion.

For the first two months of fiscal 2007, the budget deficit totaled $US124.91 billion, narrowing $US5.44 billion or 4.2 per cent from the $US130.35 billion gap a year earlier, which the Treasury spokeswoman said was the record for the first two months of a fiscal year.

The Congressional Budget Office has not updated its August estimate for a fiscal 2007 deficit of $US286 billion. The United States ended fiscal 2006 on Sept 30 with a deficit of $US247.7 billion.

Original Text

Commentary: