U.S. government posts $134 billion deficit in October

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government recorded a $134 billion budget deficit in October, the first month of the new fiscal year, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

That compared to a budget deficit of $100 billion in the same month last year, according to the Treasury's monthly budget statement.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a $133 billion deficit for the month.

Unadjusted receipts last month totaled $246 billion, down 3% from October 2018, while unadjusted outlays were $380 billion, a rise of 8% from the same month a year earlier.

The U.S. government's fiscal year ends in September each year. Fiscal year 2019 saw a widening in the deficit to $984 billion, the largest budget deficit in seven years, a result of the Trump administration's decision to cut taxes and increase government spending.

Those figures reflected the second full budget year under U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican, and a time when the country had an expanding tax base with moderate economic growth and an unemployment rate near a 50-year low.

When adjusted for calendar effects, the deficit for October remained at $134 billion compared with an adjusted deficit of $113 billion in October 2018.

(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

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