The White House on Friday lowered its expectation for the U.S. federal deficit in the 2014 fiscal year as the economy kept recovering.
The federal deficit for 2014 fiscal year was expected to fall to 583 billion U.S. dollars, 66 billion dollars less than the deficit projected in March, said the White House.
"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 continued to fall," said acting White House budget director Brian Deese in a statement.
As a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), the 2014 deficit is now projected to equal 3.4 percent, down from the 3.7 percent projected in March. The deficit is expected to fall below 3 percent in 2015 and to reach 2.1 percent of GDP by 2014, said the White House.