U.S. posts $17.84 bln January budget surplus

U.S. posts $17.84 bln January budget surplus

The U.S. government posted a $17.84 bln budget surplus for January, less than half the year-earlier surplus, as spending hit a record for the month while receipts fell from a year-ago, the U.S. Treasury said on Tuesday.

The January surplus compared to a year-earlier surplus of $38.24 billion and also was below the $23.5 billion surplus forecast by economists polled by Reuters.
A Treasury spokeswoman said January is more often a deficit month, with January deficits in 34 of the past 53 years.

After years of consistently strong year-on-year growth, government tax receipts fell to $255.22 billion in January from $260.61 billion in January 2007.
Outlays, meanwhile, grew to $237.38 billion, a January record, from $222.37 billion in January 2007. (Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Neil Stempleman)

THE GUARDIAN