US government records $51.3 billion surplus in January

The federal government ran a budget surplus in January that was smaller than last year's surplus.

The Treasury Department reported on Friday that the surplus this year was $51.3 billion, down 7.1 per cent from a January surplus a year ago of $55.2 billion. The government has run a surplus in January in 24 of the past 63 years. Government revenue is boosted in that month by quarterly estimated tax payments.

Through the first four months of this budget year that began o 1 October, the deficit totals $156.9 billion. That's 2.2 per cent lower than the $160.4 billion deficit during the same period last year.

The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that the deficit this year will be slightly lower than last year's imbalance, a forecast that does not cover President Donald Trump's proposed stimulus programme.

According to the estimate the CBO released last month, the 2017 deficit under current law will total $559 billion, down 4.8 pern cent from last year's deficit of $587 billion.

Trump has called for a programme of tax cuts for businesses and individuals and increased government spending in such areas as repairing the nation's aging infrastructure.

In a meeting with airline executives on Thursday, he said that development of his economic programme was "way ahead of schedule" and should be released over the next two to three weeks. Trump said the programme "will be phenomenal in terms of tax and developing our aviation infrastructure".

The Treasury report showed that through the first four months of this budget year, revenues total $1.08 trillion, up 0.5 per cent from the same period a year ago. Government spending totals $1.24 trillion, an increase of 0.2 per cent from the same period a year ago.