The federal budget deficit is about $1.1 trillion or seven percent of gross domestic product, the Congressional Budget Office estimates.
Although the deficit is approximately $200 billion lower than the shortfall recorded in 2011, fiscal year 2012 marks the fourth year in a row with a deficit of more than $1 trillion.
As a share of economic output, the deficit has fallen in recent years, from 10.1 percent of GDP in 2009 to 9 percent in 2010 and 8.7 percent in 2011.
The decline in the deficit stems largely from an increase in revenues. Revenues were about six percent higher in fiscal year 2012, driven in part by a significant influx of corporate income tax receipts with outlays about two percent lower than they were last year.
Today’s estimate of the deficit is $38 billion below what CBO projected in its August Budget and Economic Outlook because revenues were higher and outlays were lower than expected for the last two months of the fiscal year.
