
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 22, 1993                   TAG: 9312220137
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

FEDERAL BUDGET DEFICIT UP

Increased spending on federal retirement and medical benefits helped boost the budget deficit in the first two months of the new fiscal year by 2.8 percent over last year, the government said Tuesday.

The deficit in November totaled $38.4 billion, up 17.3 percent from a year ago. The combined shortfall for November and October, the first months of fiscal 1994, totaled $83.8 billion, up from $81.5 billion a year earlier.

And chances are the red ink will continue to accumulate more rapidly than a year earlier because the government is resuming its savings and loan cleanup program after a stall of more than year and a half.

Spending on Social Security totaled $25.5 billion in November and $50.1 billion for the fiscal year so far, up 6.8 percent from a year ago.

Spending by the Department of Health and Human Services for everything except Social Security also was $50.1 billion for the year so far. That's 12.5 percent higher than last year. This category, which includes Medicare and Medicaid, totaled $24.7 billion in November.

Offsetting the increased benefit spending were declines in military expenditures and interest on the public debt. Defense spending totaled $21.8 billion in November and $44.9 billion so far this fiscal year, down 2.1 percent from the year before.

Interest on the public debt was $22.3 billion last month and $39.9 billion so far this year, down 1.4 percent from a year ago.

The government's deficit in 1993, which ended Sept. 30, totaled $254.7 billion, a three-year low, after hitting a record $290.3 billion in 1992.

by CNB