U.S Runs $90 Billion Budget Deficit in June

The U.S. ran a budget deficit in June amid higher government spending and steady revenues.

Government spending exceeded revenues by $90 billion last month, the Treasury Department said Thursday. The deficit was about $96 billion higher than it was in June 2016, when the government recorded a $6 billion surplus.

Through the first nine months of the fiscal year, which began in October, the overall budget gap was about 31% bigger compared with the same period a year earlier.

Treasury said receipts totaled $339 billion in June, and were up 2% in the first nine months of the fiscal year, which started Oct. 1. That tracks with a report last week from the Congressional Budget Office, which also said receipts for the fiscal year were up 2%, but are still lower than they projected at the beginning of 2017.

Trump administration officials and analysts have flagged lackluster receipts as potentially compressing the period of time the government has before it runs out of cash. The Treasury Department has been employing cash-conservation measures since mid-March when government debt hit the borrowing limit.

Analysts estimate those measures will last until early to mid-October. Administration officials have urged lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling before they leave for their summer recess July 28, but Treasury has not said when it expects to run out of room to meet the government's obligations.

More broadly, declining government revenues and long-term costs associated with an aging population, including higher Social Security and Medicare spending, are expected to continue pushing up the deficit.

In a report released last month, CBO said it now expects the deficit to rise to $693 billion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, or 3.6% of gross domestic product. That was higher than estimates released in January, when CBO projected the deficit would decline in 2017 to 2.9% of GDP.

Write to Kate Davidson at kate.davidson@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 13, 2017 14:43 ET (18:43 GMT)