Calendar Lends a Hand in Cutting August Deficit
WASHINGTON -- The federal budget deficit narrowed to $24.7 billion in August from $43.65 billion a year earlier because of a fluke of the calendar, the Treasury said.</br></br>Aug. 1 fell on a Saturday this year, so military pay, veterans benefits and supplemental Social Security benefits usually paid in August were made on July 31, shrinking the August deficit.</br></br>For the first 11 months of fiscal 1992, which began Oct. 1, government receipts totaled $972.86 billion, up 3% from $944.92 billion the year before. Outlays through August totaled $1.268 trillion, up 5% from $1.208 trillion a year earlier.</br></br>That produced a total deficit of $295.60 billion for the first 11 months of fiscal 1992, nearly 13% larger than $262.61 billion reported for those months in fiscal 1991. The deficit for all of fiscal 1991 was $269.49 billion.</br></br>The August deficit compared with a revised deficit of $43.15 billion in July.