US budget deficit hits $240 billion in May

The US federal government's budget deficit came in above expectations at $240 billion in May. The US Treasury Department released its budget balance report for May. Accordingly, the federal government's budget deficit was calculated as $240 billion in the 8th month of the 2023 fiscal year, which started on October 1, 2022 and will end on September 30, 2023. The federal government had a budget deficit of $66 billion in the same month of the previous year. Thus, there was a 263 percent increase in the budget deficit compared to the same month of the previous year. During this period, the market expectation for the budget balance was for the budget to have a deficit of $236 billion. While the government's revenues decreased by approximately 21 percent in May compared to the same month of the previous year, falling to $307 billion, its expenditures increased by 20 percent, reaching $548 billion. As of May, the eighth month of the 2023 fiscal year, the country's total budget deficit increased by approximately 173 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching $1 trillion 165 billion. The deficit was $426 billion in the same period last year. Expenditures in the first eight months of the fiscal year increased by 9 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching $4 trillion 159 billion, while revenues decreased by 11 percent to $2 trillion 994 billion.