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US piles up record October budget deficit of $284.1 billion
AP
Last Updated IST
Representative image. Credit: iStock
Representative image. Credit: iStock

The US is starting the 2021 budget year the way the old year ended, with soaring deficits.

The Treasury Department reported Thursday that the federal government ran up a record October deficit of $284.1 billion, nearly double the red ink of the same month a year ago, as revenues declined while spending to deal with the impact of the coronavirus soared.

The October deficit was almost double the $134.5 billion deficit logged in October 2019. It smashed the previous October record of a $176 billion deficit set in 2009, when the government was spending heavily to lift the country out of a deep recession caused by the 2008 financial crisis.

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The deficit for the 2020 budget year, which ended Sept. 30, totaled a record $3.1 trillion, breaking the old mark for an annual deficit of $1.4 trillion set in 2009.

The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that this year's deficit will surpass the 2020 mark, hitting $3.3 trillion.

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(Published 13 November 2020, 01:42 IST)