Money World economy
The US government closed its 2009 fiscal year with a record 1.417 trillion dollar budget deficit as it poured resources to contain a serious financial crisis that plunged the nation into recession.
The deficit was some 962 billion dollars higher than the prior year and amounted to 10 percent of US gross domestic product (GDP), the highest since 1945, officials say.
The huge jump in the budget shortfall stemmed from both declining revenues and a massive ramping up of spending in a fiscal stimulus to jolt the world's largest economy from a prolonged recession following the worst financial crisis in decades.
Receipts for the fiscal year that ended in September totalled 2.105 trillion dollars while outlays were 3.522 trillion dollars, the Treasury said.
Officials, however, pointed out that the deficit was 162 billion dollars lower than the 1.580 trillion dollars forecast by the administration of President Barack Obama, who inherited the flood of red ink from his predecessor George W. Bush.
