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Monday, April 07, 2014

CBO: Federal Deficit through March $187 billion less this year than it was in fiscal year 2013

by Calculated Risk on 4/07/2014 06:56:00 PM

From the Congressional Budget Office (CBO): Monthly Budget Review for March 2014

The federal government ran a budget deficit of $413 billion for the first six months of fiscal year 2014, CBO estimates—$187 billion less than the shortfall recorded in the same span last year. Revenues were about 10 percent higher; and outlays, about 4 percent lower. ...
And for March 2014:
The federal government incurred a deficit of $36 billion in March 2014, CBO estimates—$71 billion less than the $107 billion deficit incurred in March 2013. Because March 1 fell on a weekend in 2014, certain payments that ordinarily would have been made in March this year were made in February. Without those shifts in the timing of payments, and prepayments of deposit insurance premiums that lowered collections in fiscal year 2013, the deficit in March 2014 would have been $34 billion smaller than it was in the same month last year.
emphasis added
The consensus was the deficit for March would be around $133 billion, and it appears the deficit for fiscal 2014 will be smaller than the CBO currently expects (less than 3.0% of GDP).

Of course there will be a solid surplus in April.