US budget deficit reaches 1.1 trillion dollars in 2012 FY

The budget deficit of the US federal government topped around 1.1 trillion US dollars in the 2012 fiscal year ending in September, the Treasury Department announced on Friday. The deficit of 1.089 trillion dollars for the 2012 fiscal year was 207 billion less than the 2011 fiscal year. But it was the fourth consecutive fiscal year that the US federal government's budget deficit surpassed 1 trillion dollars. The federal government raked in a revenue of 261.57 billion dollars in September, and registered outlays of 186.55 billion dollars, said the Treasury. The federal government achieved a budget surplus of about 75 billion dollars in September, the second monthly surplus in the 2012 fiscal year, it added. "The President (Barack Obama) has put forward a balanced proposal to further strengthen the economy and reduce the country' s future deficits. It is time for Congress to act on these necessary steps that will help create sustainable economic growth for years to come," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement. During the vice presidential debate for the 2012 election, held in Danville, Kentucky on Thursday evening, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Republican nominee Paul Ryan clashed over a range of economic topics, including how to reduce the government's huge deficit. The US federal government ran a record budget deficit of 1.41 trillion dollars in the 2009 fiscal year, followed by a 1.29- trillion-dollar imbalance in the 2010 fiscal year.