US budget deficit to come down to $583 billion in 2014

The US government budget deficit in 2014 will come down to $583 billion, a drop of $100 billion over the previous year.

This is the sharpest drop during the period of Obama administration, the White House said on Friday.

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"Under the president's leadership, the deficit has been cut by more than half as a share of the economy, representing the most rapid sustained deficit reduction since World War II, and it continues to fall," Brian Deese, Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote on the White House blog on Friday.

Deese said the Mid-Session Review (MSR) projects a $583 billion deficit in 2014, which is 3.4 per cent of GDP, nearly $ 100 billion less than last year's deficit and $66 billion lower than the Budget projection.

"Looking ahead, the MSR estimates that deficits under the president's proposed policies will fall to below 3 per cent of GDP in 2015 and reach 2.1 per cent of GDP by 2024," he said.

"At the same time, our economy is moving forward and businesses are creating jobs," Deese said, adding that nearly 10 million new jobs have been created over the past 52 months.

The housing market is rebounding, with rising home prices lifting four million borrowers above water on their mortgages in 2013 alone, he said adding, Americans are purchasing vehicles at a faster pace over the last two quarters than in any quarter since the first half of 2007.

The manufacturing sector has experienced stronger job growth over the last four-and-a-half years than over any comparable period since the mid-1990s, Deese said.

Noting that Obama believes more can be done, and top priority must remain accelerating growth while expanding opportunity for all Americans, he said the Budget provides a roadmap for making investments to accelerate economic growth, expand opportunity for all hard-working Americans and ensure national security, while continuing to improve the nation's long-term fiscal outlook.  

"At the same time, the Budget takes key steps to both continue and enhance the administration's efforts to deliver a government that is more effective, efficient and supportive of economic growth," he said.

"By investing in our infrastructure and manufacturing, simplifying the tax code for businesses, reforming our skills and job training programs and fixing our broken immigration system, we can create jobs and achieve stronger and more inclusive economic growth," he wrote.

"By rewarding hard work with fair wages, equipping all children with a high-quality education to prepare them for a good job in the future, making sure a secure retirement is within reach and ensuring health care is affordable and reliable, we can expand opportunity," he added.

"By eliminating wasteful tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and making common sense reforms to government programmes, we can manage our government more efficiently and effectively and continue to cut the deficit in a balanced way," Deese said.

Please click here for the Complete Coverage of Budget 2014 -15