US budget deficit hits $198 bn in March

Washington, April 12 (IANS) The US federal government has registered a budget deficit of about $198 billion in March, the second largest monthly budget gap in the current fiscal year, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.

The figure was lower than the $231.7-billion budget deficit in February, the biggest monthly budget imbalance in US history.

The federal government raked in a revenue of $171.2 billion last month, and registered outlays of $369.4 billion.

The combined budget deficit in the first six months of the 2012 fiscal year starting October 2011 stood at $779 billion, said the department.

The trend has put the federal government budget gap on the path to surpassing $1 trillion for the fourth consecutive fiscal year, Xinhua reported.

The federal government ran a record budget deficit of $1.41 trillion in the 2009 fiscal year and a $1.29-trillion imbalance in the 2010 fiscal year.

In his latest pitch to push "Buffett Rule", President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the country could not afford to give tax cuts to the wealthy and they should do their fair share in helping reduce the country's massive deficits.