WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. federal budget deficit in the first half of fiscal 2010 is down 8 percent from the same period a year ago, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
Citing senior Obama administration officials, the Washington Post said in an article posted on its website the smaller deficit was due to higher tax revenue and lower than projected spending to bail out the financial system.
The newspaper said if the trend continued for the rest of the year it would mean the annual deficit would be $1.3 trillion -- about $300 billion less than the administration's projection two months ago for 2010.
The Treasury earlier released a statement that showed a cumulative $181 billion of money disbursed to stabilize the financial system had been repaid through March, and noted that estimates for the program's final cost were falling.
