The federal deficit rose $82 billion to $668 billion in fiscal 2017, the Congressional Budget Office reported Friday.
That is the largest annual shortfall, both in dollar terms and as a share of the economy, since 2013.
The budget office’s numbers represent a projection. The Treasury Department will report the official numbers later this month.
Government revenue rose 1 percent to $3.31 trillion. Spending, though, rose even faster, by 3 percent. Total government outlays fell just short of cracking the $4 trillion mark for the first time, finishing at $3.98 trillion.
The CBO, Congress’ in-house group of budget experts, sees the deficit declining in fiscal 2018, dropping to $563 billion.
In later years, though, it anticipates that the deficit will rise indefinitely as a share of economic output, as spending programs such as Medicare and Medicaid continue to grow and eclipse revenue. The CBO sees the federal debt held by the public, which represents the accumulated annual deficits, rising from about 77 percent of gross domestic product today to 91 percent at the end of the decade.
