The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday the federal budget deficit grew to $263.3 billion in the first five months of this budget year as record spending during the period outpaced record revenues. The department's report showed that the deficit for the budget year that began October 1 was up 62 percent from the $162.2 billion deficit for the same five-month period a year earlier. The five-month budget deficit of over $263 million was a record high, the government said. Spending totaled a record $1.23 trillion, while revenue totaled $967.2 billion, also a record high. For the month of February, the government ran a deficit of $175.6 billion, a record high for any single month. The White House has predicted that the budget deficit this year will increase to $410 billion as the current economic slowdown reduces tax revenues. Many analysts expect economic growth will be weak in the first quarter of this year, and a growing number believe the economy is actually shrinking now. The Bush administration and many private economists are hopeful that economic growth will resume in the second half of 2008 as the government's $168 billion stimulus package of tax rebates moves through the economy.
