White House: Budget Deficit to Rise to $600B

The White House on Friday predicted that the government’s budget deficit for the soon-to-end fiscal year will hit $600 billion, an increase of $162 billion over last year’s tally.

The budget and economic update also officially downgrades the White House’s view of the economy, predicting growth of 2.2 percent this year instead of the 2.7-percent growth rate it predicted in its February budget. But it also says inflation will stay in check, predicting a 1.1 percent increase in consumer prices versus the 1.4 percent it forecast in the winter.

“Over the last seven years, the administration and the American people have worked to rebuild our economy and ensure that it is the strongest, most durable economy in the world,” the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shaun Donovan, said in a blog post accompanying the report. “The President’s Budget builds on that progress. It makes critical investments in our domestic and national security priorities.”