The U.S. national debt grew by just a bit more than $600 billion in fiscal year 2017, almost half the average annual growth seen in the Obama years.

The national debt ended at $20.244 trillion on the last business day of September, an increase of $671 billion from the start of the fiscal year in October 2016. Trump was in control of the government for little more than eight months of the fiscal year, after taking office on January 20.

While Congress controls spending, the Trump administration has taken some steps to reduce the need for more government borrowing.

For example, the administration this year spent more than $270 billion in cash to fund the government in the first six weeks of office. As of last week, the government was still operating with a cash balance of less than $200 billion.

The federal government has also benefited from record high tax receipts, which some attribute to improved economic growth. The stock market has surged since Trump was elected president, and recently has stayed buoyant on the hopes that Republicans can pass their plan to cut taxes.

Growth of the national debt in FY 2017 was far below the growth seen in the past seven years under Obama, when it grew by more than $1 trillion per year.

Growth in the debt from fiscal years 2010 to 2016 averaged $1.08 trillion. It grew by less than $1 trillion in two fiscal years, 2013 and 2015, but that was because the U.S. hit the debt ceiling months before the fiscal year ended, which kept down growth in the debt.

However, the debt continued to rise quickly once the debt ceiling was suspended again, leading to a high average increase during the Obama years.