The US budget deficit accelerated in March to hit a record nearly one trillion dollars in the first half of the current fiscal year as the government moved to bail out troubled institutions, government data showed Friday.
The deficit for the first six months of the fiscal year which began on October 1 was 956.80 billion dollars, said the Treasury's monthly statement of receipts and outlays.
Receipts during the six-month period to March 2009 were 989.83 billion dollars while outlays amounted to nearly 1.95 trillion dollars, the data showed.
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The March deficit of 192.27 billion dollars was higher than the 160 billion dollars expected by most analysts, coming on the back of money poured by President Barack Obama's administration to rescue financial institutions.
All six months of the fiscal year so far recorded red ink. The last time the United States plunged into a consecutive six month deficit was during the October 2003-March 2004 period, officials said.
