2010-07-14 16:24

WASHINGTON - The US federal budget deficit topped $1 trillion in the first nine months ended June this fiscal year, the Treasury Department reported on Tuesday.

According to a report released by the Treasury Department, through the first nine months of 2010 budget year, the US federal deficit totals $1 trillion, down 7.6 percent from the $1.09 trillion imbalance run up during the same period a year ago.

In June, federal deficit totaled $68.4 billion, down from the all-time high of $94.3 billion in June 2009, but was still the second highest June deficit on record.

In fiscal year 2009 which ended in September last year, the US federal deficit soared to a historical high level of $1.42 trillion. It was expected that the red ink in fiscal year 2010 will be around $1.5 trillion.

The ballooning deficit problem has drawn wide concerns under the circumstance of a sovereign debt crisis in Europe.

Earlier this month the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged the United States to rein in its soaring budget deficit.

"The central challenge is to develop a credible fiscal strategy to ensure that public debt is put -- and is seen to be put -- on a sustainable path without putting the recovery in jeopardy," the IMF said in a report.