Recent Updates
- Japan: Japan: Construction Works Put in Place (Nov)
- Australia: Roy Morgan Estimates of Employment (Dec, Q4)
- Korea: First 20 Days of Trade (Jan)
- Japan: TSE Tokyo PRO Market (Dec), Current Production Statistics (Nov)
- New Zealand: Composite PMI, Performance of Service Index,
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Housing Starts Surge to 13-Year High
Fueled by low interest rates and a strong job market, new home building strengthened during December...
U.S. Industrial Production Lower on Utilities
Industrial production declined 0.3% in December on a weather-driven drop in utility output...
U.S. JOLTS: Job Openings Decline as Hiring Turns Tepid
U.S. JOLTS: Job Openings Decline as Hiring Turns Tepid...
U.S. Housing Affordability Edged Up in November
The NAR U.S. Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing Affordability Index edged up 0.3% m/m (13.9% y/y) to 163.8 in November ...
Euro Area Trade Surplus Shrinks
The EMU current account surplus fell to 33.94 billion euros in November...
by Tom Moeller January 11, 2018
The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the federal government ran a $23.2 billion budget deficit during December 2017 compared to a $27.3 billion deficit in December 2016. A deficit of $50.2 billion had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey.
Net revenues rose 3.9% y/y in the first three months of FY'18. Individual income taxes increased 10.8% y/y following a 2.7% rise during all of last year. The gain in social insurance receipts eased to 2.7% y/y and excise taxes improved 0.4% y/y following last year's 11.8% shortfall. The rate of decline in corporate income taxes picked up to -18.1% y/y after falling 0.8% during all of last fiscal year.
Government spending increased 4.6% y/y so far in FY'18 compared to 3.3% growth during all of FY'17. National defense spending rose 5.9% y/y after slight increases during the last two fiscal years. Health insurance spending eased 0.5% y/y following two years of single-digit growth, while Medicare outlays were little changed y/y. Income security payments were fairly stable y/y after their 2.1% FY'17 decline. Social Security payments increased a steady 3.4% y/y. Interest payments rose 15.6% y/y after 9.2% growth last year.
Haver's data on Federal Government outlays and receipts are contained in USECON. Considerable detail is given in the separate GOVFIN database. The Action Economics Forecast Survey numbers are in the AS1REPNA database.
| United States Government Finance | Dec 2017 | FY'17 | FY'16 | FY'15 | FY'14 | FY'13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budget Balance (Billions) | -- | $-23.2 | $-665.7 | $-585.6 | $-439.1 | $-483.4 | $-680.2 |
| As a percent of GDP | -- | -- | 3.5% | 3.2% | 2.5% | 2.8% | 4.1% |
| % of Total | |||||||
| Net Revenues (Fiscal Year YTD 2018, Y/Y % Change) | 100 | 3.9% | 1.5% | 0.6% | 7.6% | 8.9% | 13.3% |
| Individual Income Taxes | 47 | 10.8 | 2.7 | 0.3 | 10.5 | 5.9 | 16.3 |
| Corporate Income Taxes | 9 | -18.1 | -0.8 | -12.9 | 7.2 | 17.3 | 12.9 |
| Social Insurance Taxes | 34 | 2.7 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 4.1 | 8.0 | 12.1 |
| Excise Taxes | 3 | 0.4 | -11.8 | -3.3 | 5.3 | 11.1 | 6.3 |
| Net Outlays (Fiscal Year 2017 YTD, Y/Y % Change) | 100 | 4.6 | 3.3 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 1.4 | -2.4 |
| National Defense | 15 | 5.9 | 0.8 | 0.7 | -2.3 | -4.7 | -6.3 |
| Health | 15 | -0.5 | 4.1 | 6.2 | 17.8 | 14.3 | 3.3 |
| Medicare | 15 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 8.7 | 6.7 | 2.8 | 5.5 |
| Income Security | 13 | -0.1 | -2.1 | 1.0 | -0.9 | -4.3 | -1.1 |
| Social Security | 24 | 3.4 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 5.2 |
| Veterans Benefits & Services | 4 | 6.6 | 1.2 | 9.3 | 6.8 | 7.7 | 11.5 |
| Education, Training, Employment & Social Services | 4 | 11.1 | 31.6 | -10.2 | 34.7 | 25.9 | -21.9 |
| Interest | 7 | 15.6 | 9.2 | 7.8 | -1.8 | 2.8 | 0.4 |
