WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th January, 2021) The US budget deficit rose 61 percent in the first three months of fiscal 2021 to a record $572.9 billion, the Treasury Department said in its monthly balance sheet released on Wednesday.
Outlays for October, when the 2021 Federal government fiscal year started, to December amounted to $1.376 trillion while receipts totaled $803.37 billion, resulting in the $572.899 billion deficit, according to the balance sheet.
In the last fiscal year, Treasury reported a budget deficit of $3.13 trillion.
The budget shortfall came after the issuance of roughly $3 trillion of aid by Congress under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act to provide grants and loans to US businesses as well as relief to individuals amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The 2021 deficit could grow far beyond last year's shortfall with the incoming Biden administration promising to issue "trillions of Dollars" more in stimulus this year to battle the protracted pandemic.
