US Federal Budget Deficit Decreased by 26% in January: Latest Report

U.S. Treasury Department Released January Report

The U.S. Treasury Department has announced the budget balance report for the January 2026 period. According to the data, the federal government's budget deficit for the fourth month of the fiscal year, which started on October 1, 2025, and will end on September 30, 2026, stood at 94.6 billion dollars. This figure is lower than the 128.6 billion dollars recorded in the same month of the previous year, reflecting a reduction of approximately 26 percent compared to the previous year.

Below Economists' Expectations

The median expectation of economists participating in a Bloomberg survey was that the deficit would be around 94.4 billion dollars in January. This result also highlights the improvement in the government's financial management.

Rising Income While Spending Increases

Furthermore, federal government revenues increased by 9.1 percent year-on-year, reaching 559.9 billion dollars. The main reasons for this increase include 317.3 billion dollars collected from individual income taxes, 169.80 billion dollars from social insurance and retirement income, and 27.74 billion dollars collected from customs duties.

On the other hand, federal spending during the same period recorded an increase of 2 percent, amounting to 654.6 billion dollars. The largest spending item was social security expenditures, which amounted to 143.55 billion dollars. Health and drug expenditures totaled 217.1 billion dollars, while national defense expenditures reached 70.75 billion dollars.