The Treasury Department said the August deficit was down slightly from a shortfall of $111.91 billion a year earlier. It was also smaller than the $139.5 billion deficit that economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast.
But analysts said the difference from last year was due to calendar issues, which affected outlays related to monthly Social Security payments, and made the deficit in August 2008 appear larger.
For the first 11 months of the fiscal year, which began in October, the total deficit hit $1.38 trillion. That compares with a total deficit $500.5 billion for the first 11 months of fiscal 2008.
The government had a total deficit of $454.8 billion for all of fiscal 2008, which was the largest on record.
With the August shortfall, the U.S. has logged 11 consecutive months of deficits. That has happened only two times before, both in the 1980s, according to a Treasury official.
"We're still running enormous deficits," said Gus Faucher, director of macro economics at Moody's Economy.com. "But that's the price needed to pay to fix the financial system and bring the economy back to growth."
August receipts were $145.5 billion, versus $151.5 billion the month before, bringing the total amount that the government has taken in so far this year to $1.88 trillion.
Total outlays for August were $256.9 billion, a decrease from $332.2 billion in July. For the fiscal year to date, outlays totaled $3.26 trillion.
Looking ahead, the government said it expects to spend $3.65 trillion this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
U.S. budget deficit grows $180 billion in JulyJob losses sap Social Security
