Amid the current crisis and falling crude price, another piece of gloomy news came out. The US budget deficit widened by 22% in October to December. The official data indicated that the deficit totaled 14.444 billion dollars in comparison with the surplus of 1.864 billion dollars logged in the same period of 2014. The US Department of the Treasury say the seasonal timing of some transactions, with numerous payments shifting into December from January, partially accounts for the wider deficit.
Without calendar quirks, the budget could have shown a surplus of 38 billion dollars. The deficit in the first three months of 2016 fiscal year (started on October 1, 2015) amounted to 216 billion dollars. In comparison with the same period last year, the shortfall increased by 22%. Receipts rose by 4% to 765.645 billion dollars; and spending, by 7% to 981.19 billion dollars. In 2009, the US authorities reported the maximum deficit in the US history. It made up 1.41 trillion dollars or 9.8% of GDP. The US average shortfall is at about 3.2% from GDP.
