The federal budget deficit was $928 billion in the first seven months of fiscal year 2023, CBO estimates—$568 billion more than the shortfall recorded during the same period last year.
The federal budget deficit was $928 billion in the first seven months of fiscal year 2023, the Congressional Budget Office estimates—$568 billion more than the shortfall recorded during the same period last year. Revenues were 10 percent lower and outlays were 8 percent higher from October through April than they were during the same period in fiscal year 2022.
Shifts in the timing of certain payments affect that comparison. Outlays this fiscal year were reduced by the shifting of certain payments—totaling $63 billion—from October 1, 2022 (the first day of fiscal year 2023), into fiscal year 2022 because October 1 fell on a weekend. Also, outlays in the first seven months of fiscal year 2022 were $65 billion higher than they otherwise would have been because several federal payments that were due on May 1, 2022, a Sunday, were paid in April 2022. If not for those timing shifts, the deficit in the first seven months of fiscal year 2023 would have been $991 billion, compared with a $295 billion shortfall during the same period in 2022—an increase of $696 billion.
