The US federal government recorded a budget deficit of 100.5 billion US dollars in October, the first month of the government's fiscal year 2019, the Treasury Department said Tuesday.
That's a 59 per cent growth from the 63 billion recorded in October last year. Total outlays were up by 18.3 per cent from a year ago, while total revenues increased by 7.3 per cent.
The top three outlays in October this year are 84 billion dollars on social security, 69 billion dollars on defence, and 53 billion dollars on Medicare, reports Xinhua.
The report showed that interest payments on the public debt in October totalled 32 billion, up 30 per cent year-on-year, constituting one of the biggest increases in spending from a year ago.
The budget deficit is expected to reach 1.085 trillion dollars for the full fiscal year, the highest since 2012, according to data from the department. The estimates are based on the FY 2019 Mid-Session Review released in July this year, the department said.
The expanding deficit partially resulted from a 10-year 1.5 trillion dollar tax cut rolled out a few months earlier, which substantially reduced corporate and individual income tax rates.
The plan was repeatedly defended by President Donald Trump, but has been criticized by Democrats, who said it favours the rich.
The Congressional Budget Office has warned that growing budget deficits would boost US public debt sharply over the next 30 years if current laws generally remained unchanged.
Earlier report from the treasury department showed that the deficit registered 779 billion dollars in the fiscal year 2018 ending Sept. 30.
