WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. government

posted a $367 billion budget deficit for November, up 17% from a

year earlier, as calendar adjustments for benefit payments

boosted outlays by some $80 billion compared to the same month

in 2023, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

The Treasury Department said that without the acceleration

of December payments for the Medicare and Social Security

programs into November, the deficit last month would have been

about $29 billion, or 9% lower than last year.

But as reported, the November deficit was a record high for

that month. Receipts and outlays also were record highs for the

month of November, with receipts up 10% to $302 billion, and

outlays up 14% to $669 billion.

The deficit for the first two months of the 2025 fiscal year

also was a record high for that period - higher than the

deficits of the COVID-19 era - reaching $624 billion, up $244

billion, or 64%, from the same period a year earlier. The

government's fiscal year starts on Oct. 1.

Those deficits were also inflated by calendar-related

benefit shifts as well as higher receipts in October and

November of 2023 due to the expiration of tax payment deferrals

due to California wildfires and other weather-related disasters

that year.

Year-to-date receipts as reported were down 7% from a year

earlier to $629 billion, while year-to-date outlays were up 18%

to $1.253 trillion.