U.S. July budget deficit down 30% as COVID spending falls, revenues edge up

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government posted a $211 billion budget deficit for July, a 30% drop from the $302 billion deficit reported in the same month last year, as receipts grew slightly and COVID-19 relief spending fell sharply, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

The Treasury said that receipts in July grew 3% from a year earlier to $269 billion, while outlays fell 15% to $480 billion.

For the first 10 months of fiscal 2022, the deficit fell 71% to $726 billion from $2.54 trillion in the prior-year period, which contained the bulk of the spending from President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao)