The US federal budget deficit reached 234 billion US dollars in February, the biggest budget deficit on record for the month, the Treasury Department said Friday.
The figure is 8.7 per cent up from the same month a year ago. For the first five months of the fiscal year 2019 that started on Oct. 1, the deficit totalled $544.2 billion, up 39 per cent from a year ago.
Total outlays in February were $401 billion, up by 21 per cent from the year before, and total revenues were $167 billion, down by 50.9 per cent.
The top three outlays for the month were $87 billion on social security, $87 billion on income security and $57 billion on national defence.
According to the budget proposal for fiscal year 2020 that US President Donald Trump sent to Congress last week, the deficit is expected to reach $1.1 trillion for fiscal year 2020.
The $4.7 trillion budget proposal contains stiff spending cuts across non-defence federal agencies and a hike in defence money. The budget proposal also seeks to make the tax cuts permanent.
Because of persistently large deficits, the public debt is projected to grow steadily, reaching 93 per cent of US GDP in 2029 and about 150 per cent of US GDP in 2049, according to estimation from the Congressional Budget Office in January.