The federal deficit in May reached $208 billion, surging 42 percent over last May’s monthly deficit figure, according to new Treasury Department data released Wednesday.
The figure put the cumulative deficit for the eight months of fiscal 2019 at $739 billion, within range of the full 2018 deficit, which amounted to $779 billion, according to the Treasury figures. Treasury estimates that the full deficit will exceed $1 trillion by the time the fiscal year wraps up at the end of September.