The US government’s nominal budget deficit increased by 10%
reported Mehr News Agency, the US Department of Treasury announced that the deficit in July increased by 23 billion dollars from the 221 billion dollar budget deficit recorded in July last year and reached 244 billion dollars. Economists in a Reuters poll had predicted a deficit of 242 billion dollars for July.
This nominal increase was mainly the result of lower-than-usual spending in July last year, particularly for the treatment sector. However, taking into account calendar reforms and other adjustments, the US Treasury announced that the budget deficit last month was 16% lower than the deficit in July 2023.
July receipts were $330 billion, up 20 percent from a year earlier, but adjusting for deferred tax receipts was up 12 percent.
Expenses in July rose 16 percent to $574 billion, which led to a $72 billion increase in medical expenses. However, last year’s cost reduction was artificial as payments were distributed at the end of June 2023. Taking into account these changes and other adjustments, costs decreased by 1 percent.
However, federal debt service costs continue to rise. A Treasury Ministry official says that interest on debt increased by 21 percent to $89 billion last month, and the weighted average interest rate increased by 49 points to 3.33 percent.
During the first 10 months of fiscal year 2024, the US budget deficit decreased by 6% to $1.517 trillion from $1.614 trillion in the same period last fiscal year. . The government’s fiscal year ends on September 30. According to the Ministry of Treasury, annual revenues have increased by 11% to reach 4.085 trillion dollars. While the expenses of this period have reached 5.602 thousand billion dollars with an increase of 6%.
