MARKETWATCH

U.S. budget deficit widens to $227.8 billion in June

Provided by Dow Jones
Jul 13, 2023 4:07 PM EDT
By Greg Robb

Fiscal year-to-date deficit is twice as large as the same period last year

The numbers: The U.S. federal budget deficit widened sharply to $227.76 billion in June, up from $88.8 billion in the same month last year, the Treasury Department said Thursday. ... For the first nine months of the fiscal year, the deficit was $1.39 trillion, up from $515.1 billion in the same period last year.

Key details: In June, government receipts fell while spending increased, the department said. ... Receipts were down $42 billion to $418 billion from a year ago while outlays rose $96 billion to $646 billion.

Big picture: Federal Reserve officials say that the government's finances are on a long-term unsustainable path, but there is little appetite in Congress to fix it. ... Over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the deficit will increase steadily and continue to add to the federal debt.

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The federal deficit nearly tripled, raising concern about the country's finances

July 13, 2023 4:57 PM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
Scott Horsley

The federal government's deficit nearly tripled in the first nine months of the fiscal year, a surge that's bound to raise concerns about the country's rising debt levels. ... The Treasury Department said Thursday that the budget gap from October through June was nearly $1.4 trillion — a 170% increase from the same period a year earlier. The federal government operates under a fiscal year that begins October 1.

The shortfall adds to an already large federal debt — estimated at more than $32 trillion. Financing that debt is increasingly expensive as a result of rising interest rates. Interest payments over the last nine months reached $652 billion — 25% more than during a same period a year ago.

"Unfortunately, interest is now the government's fastest growing quote-unquote 'program,'" said Michael Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson foundation, which promotes fiscal responsibility.

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The Fitch bond rating agency warned in June that despite the country's "exceptional strengths," the nation's AAA bond rating could be jeopardized by "governance shortcomings," including "failure to tackle fiscal challenges."