The Treasury Department said the U.S. budget deficit hit $194 billion for the four months of fiscal 2015, compared with the $183 billion shortfall in the same period last fiscal year, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.Nick Timiraos writes the Treasury also disclosed that the federal budget gap widened slightly to $18 billion for January.
Economists polled by WSJ had forecast the U.S.’ January deficit would be approximately $20 billion, according to the newspaper.
Government spending and revenue in the first four months of FY 2015 grew 8 percent and 9 percent, respectively, over year’s figures, according to Treasury data obtained by WSJ.
The Congressional Budget Office projected that the annual budget deficit will drop to $468 billion for this fiscal year, its lowest point in 8 years.
CBO also estimated the shortfall could jump from 2.5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product in FY 2015 to approximately 4 percent of GDP by 2025.
