The U.S. budget deficit totaled $2.772 trillion during fiscal 2021, below the prior year’s record shortfall but still reflecting a second straight year of massive spending to support households and businesses through the coronavirus pandemic, the Treasury Department said on Friday.
The United States posted a deficit of $3.132 trillion in fiscal 2020, when the federal government first started spending frantically in response to the pandemic. The $360 billion drop in the deficit—the first decrease in six years—reflected the rebound in economic activity this year.
