By Corbett B. Daly
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States posted a $90.53 billion budget deficit in August, Treasury Department data showed on Monday.
The August deficit was slightly below the $95 billion expected by economists polled by Reuters and smaller than the $103.56 billion budget gap a year earlier.
The department said the budget gap so far for fiscal 2010, which ends at the end of this month, was $1.260 trillion, smaller than the $1.371 trillion posted for the first 11 months of fiscal 2009.
The government has now posted a budget deficit for a record 23 straight months, the Treasury Department said.
August outlays were $254.52 billion, higher than the $249.08 billion in August 2009.
Receipts totaled $164 billion in August, higher than the prior year's $145.53 billion in August receipts.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office last month forecast the U.S. budget deficit will hit $1.342 trillion this year, down slightly from its March projection of $1.368 trillion.
Americans' concern about the economy, including the high deficit, are expected to hurt U.S. President Barack Obama's Democrats in November's midterm elections.
(Reporting by Corbett B. Daly; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
