The United States posted a record $764.5 billion budget deficit for the first five months of fiscal 2009, the US Treasury said today.
In February, the government posted a deficit of $192.78 billion versus a deficit of $175.56 billion in February of last year.
Wall Street economists polled by Reuters News had forecast a deficit of $205.7 billion.
The ballooning deficit could hamper President Barack Obama's ability to jump start the deteriorating U.S. economy.
The February US budget outlays fell slightly to $280.11 billion from $281.29 billion in February 2008 with the majority of the spending from the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the Housing Economic Recovery Act, the department said.
US budget outlays through the first five months of fiscal 2009 totaled $1.625 trillion, while receipts for the first five months totalled $860.88 billion, the department said.
The Treasury brought $12.72 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities from housing finance agencies in February, bringing its investments in these securities to $101.81 billion for the fiscal year to date.
Reuters