US Treasury posts $66B budget deficit in May, below expectations

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - The US government posted a $66 billion budget deficit in May, marking a 50% decrease compared to the same month last year, according to the Treasury Department said on Friday.

The federal government ran a budget deficit of $132 billion in the same month of last year.

The median forecast of economists was for a deficit of $120 billion.

While the government's revenues decreased by 16% to $389 billion in May compared to the same month last year, its expenditures decreased by 24% to $455 billion.

For the first eight months of the 2022 fiscal year, the government posted a deficit of $426 billion, down 79% from the year-earlier deficit $2.064 trillion.

Year-to-date receipts went up by 29% to $3.3 trillion while outlays diminished 19% to $3.8 trillion.