WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government posted a $51 billion budget surplus in January, with both receipts and outlays rising from the same month a year earlier, the Treasury Department said on Friday.
The budget surplus was $55 billion in January 2016, according to Treasury's monthly budget statement.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a $40 billion surplus for last month.
The fiscal 2017 year-to-date deficit was $157 billion compared with $160 billion in the same period of fiscal 2016.
When accounting for calendar adjustments, the surplus last month was $23 billion. That compared to an adjusted surplus of $13 billion in the same month in 2016.
Receipts last month came to $344 billion, about a 10 percent increase from January 2016, while outlays stood at $293 billion, up 13 percent from the same month a year earlier.