Binance founder Zhao released from US custody, Bloomberg News reports
Brazil's top court rules X must pay pending fines to resume service
A federal judge in Texas will hear arguments over Boeing's plea deal in a 737 Max case
Canada booking seats on commercial flights to help citizens flee Lebanon
Netanyahu is dragging region into war and must be stopped, Jordan says
Hezbollah reckons with future amid Beirut strikes
Jobs data to test US stock market's soft-landing hopes
Sutter Health Park is new home to A's, putting sports world in abuzz over turf, tickets
Nationals GM Mike Rizzo says long-term view of CJ Abrams is unchanged despite demotion
Lindor returns to Mets' lineup after missing nearly 2 weeks with lower back pain
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. federal government posted a December deficit of $129 billion, up $44 billion or 52% from a year earlier as outlays rose while receipts fell from December 2022 levels that were swelled by pandemic-deferred tax payments, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday.
The Treasury said that outlays for December rose 3% to $559 billion, a December record, partly as a result of higher Social Security outlays and interest on the public debt. Receipts for the month fell 6% to $429 billion.
For the first three months of the 2024 fiscal year that started Oct. 1, the federal deficit reached $510 billion, up $89 billion, or 21% from the year ago period.
A Treasury official said that both year-to-date outlays and receipts were records. Outlays rose 12% to $1.618 trillion, while receipts rose 8% to $1.108 trillion.
Public debt interest costs for December rose to $119 billion, up 11% or $12 billion from December 2022, due to higher debt levels and a higher weighted average interest rate of 3.11%. This rate was three quarters of a point higher than a year earlier.
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
