WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government posted a $28 billion budget deficit in December, with both receipts and outlays falling from the same month a year earlier, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.
The budget gap was $14 billion in December 2015, according to Treasury's monthly budget statement.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a $25 billion deficit for last month.
The fiscal 2017 year-to-date deficit was $208 billion compared with $216 billion in the same period of fiscal 2016.
When accounting for calendar adjustments, the deficit last month was $5 billion. That compared to a surplus of $27 billion in the same month in 2015.
Receipts last month came to $319 billion, a 9 percent decline from December 2015, while outlays stood at $347 billion, down 5 percent from the same month a year earlier.