US Government Posts 2nd Budget Surplus of Fiscal Year 2023

The U.S. government recorded the first monthly budget surplus since April, but the federal deficit still on track for $2 trillion.

The Treasury Department building in Washington on Jan. 19, 2023. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. government recorded an $89 billion budget surplus in August, a swing from a $220 billion deficit in the same month a year ago, according to the Department of the Treasury.

The primary reason for the better-than-expected number? Technical government accounting.