The US government suffered a wider-than-expected budget deficit of 82.69 billion dollars in April, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
It was nearly four times the deficit chalked up a year earlier and the largest ever recorded in April.
Most analysts had expected the April deficit, the 19th consecutive month of federal red ink, to be about 52 billion dollars.
Unexpectedly, it was over half again as high as expected. Go, analysts!