The federal deficit rose by $63 billion to $522 billion in the first half of fiscal 2017, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Friday.
However, the bigger shortfall was caused entirely by a shift in the timing of federal payments that occurred because the start of the year fell on a weekend.
If not for that shift, the deficit would have been $2 billion less than the previous year, according to the budget office, which provides budget and economic analysis to Congress.
In the first six months of the fiscal year, October to March, total revenue was down from the same period the year before by $2 billion, to $1.47 trillion.
Spending, meanwhile, was up $61 billion to just under $2 trillion. That increase reflected greater spending through Social Security, thanks to the ongoing aging of the population, and on healthcare programs, among other items.
Because spending and revenue fluctuate from month to month, the total deficit for fiscal 2017 isn’t expected to be that much larger than it was through the first half. In January, the budget office projected that it would be $559 billion.
The budget office sees the deficit declining again in fiscal 2018, before rising in dollar terms and as a share of economic output.
