WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. government recorded a budget shortfall of $188 billion in March, the Treasury Department said Tuesday in a report likely to add new fuel to the raging political debate about government debt and spending.
The monthly deficit was $123 billion more than the shortfall recorded last March, and brings the deficit to $829 billion for the first six months of fiscal 2011.
The government spent $339 billion in March, according to the Treasury report, and took in $151 billion.
For the first six months of fiscal 2011, the government has spent about $1.85 trillion. Receipts for the first half of the year are $1.02 trillion.
The Treasury statement was released on the same day that the International Monetary Fund urged the U.S. to cut its budget deficit. The IMF projected that the U.S. will have a fiscal balance as a percentage of GDP of -10.8% in 2011, the biggest percentage among advanced countries.
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