U.S. Budget Deficit Widens to $319 Billion Amid Flat Revenue

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. budget deficit widened to $319 billion in the first three months of the government’s fiscal year as spending increased and revenue was little changed, according to the Treasury Department.

The shortfall grew by 42 percent between the October to December period, compared with the same three months the previous year, according to the latest Treasury monthly budget report released on Wednesday. Receipts climbed by 0.2 percent to $771.2 billion, while spending was up 9.6 percent to $1.1 trillion.

The latest data will likely fan concerns over America’s growing national debt, which topped $22 trillion this week. The fiscal deficit is projected to keep growing and surpass $1 trillion by 2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office, fueled in part by President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax-cut package and government spending increases. The White House has said the measures will boost U.S. economic growth and create jobs.

Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Chinese goods and other imports including steel and aluminum are boosting revenue. Customs receipts nearly doubled to $17.8 billion in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to Treasury. The trend is “largely because of new tariffs imposed by administration in the past year,” according to a separate budget analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released last month.

Corporate and individual-income tax receipts both fell in the quarter, by 17.3 percent and 3.5 percent respectively, the Treasury data showed.

The growing budget deficit is concerning for fiscal hawks, who say it risks economic growth and U.S. credit quality. Net interest payments on the national debt jumped 19 percent to $99.6 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2019.

The government ran a deficit of $13.5 billion in December, compared with a $23.2 billion-gap the same month a year prior, according to Treasury. The department’s report was originally scheduled for release in January but was delayed by the partial government shutdown.

To contact the reporter on this story: Katia Dmitrieva in Washington at edmitrieva1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Scott Lanman at slanman@bloomberg.net, ;Brendan Murray at brmurray@bloomberg.net, Sarah McGregor, Randall Woods

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