U.S. posts $62.5 billion deficit in May

By Gregory Robb, CBS Marketwatch.com
Last Update: 2:20 PM ET June 10, 2004

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - The U.S. government posted a federal budget deficit of $62.5 billion in May, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

The shortfall compares with a larger $88.9 billion deficit in the same month last fiscal year.

The Congressional Budget Office had estimated a deficit of $65 billion earlier this month.

The CBO said the smaller deficit this May was related to calendar adjustments and was not a sign of any fundamental improvement in the budget picture.

Outlays fell 7.5 percent from a year ago, while receipts rose 11.6 percent.

Outlays totaled $177.9 billion in May, compared with $192.3 billion a year ago. Receipts totaled $115.5 billion in May, compared $103.4 billion a year ago.

Indeed, year-to-date, the nation is running a $344.3 billion deficit, a larger gap than the $290.9 billion deficit in the first eight months of the last fiscal year, Treasury said.

The interest on Treasury debt securities was $20.4 billion in May, about 12 percent of total federal budget outlays.

President Bush has vowed to cut the deficit to $237 billion, or less than half of this year's projection, by 2009.

The CBO said the deficit would come in lower than its projection of $477 billion, thanks to larger than expected tax receipts.