{
  "id": 6835903,
  "title": "$1.97 trillion deficit & counting: US gap barely budges",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/1-97-trillion-deficit-counting-us-gap-barely-budges",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-11T18:03:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Economic Times",
    "slug": "the-economic-times",
    "url": "https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/us-budget-deficit-shrinks-in-august-year-to-date-flat-at-1-97-trillion/articleshow/134083635.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The U.S. federal budget deficit for August contracted to $167 billion, due to decreased expenditures, lower interest payments, and adjusted benefit payments, according to the U.S. Treasury. The fiscal-year-to-date budget gap remained essentially unchanged, totaling $1.97 trillion for the 11 months leading up to August. This deficit surpasses the fiscal 2025 full-year deficit of $1.775 trillion. August's budget gap represented a 52% decrease compared to the same month a year earlier. However, considering calendar adjustments, indicating some August payments were made in July, the month's deficit reached $248 billion, a $7 billion increase from the previous year. Unadjusted outlays in August declined by 24%, amounting to $527 billion. Interest payments on the federal debt decreased by $14 billion. The drop in outlays was attributed to changes in inflation accruals, while the fiscal year-to-date data showed a $143 billion increase, or 13%, compared to the same period a year ago. Unadjusted August receipts climbed by $16 billion, or 5%, to $360 billion, including a $12.84 billion net customs receipts inflow, marking the first increase since April. This increase was primarily due to tariff refunds totaling $10.54 billion for the month, accounting for about a third of the July refunds total of $33.38 billion.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}