WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government recorded a $347 billion May budget deficit, up sharply from the $240 billion deficit a year earlier due to the pre-payment of some June benefits and higher outlays for interest, Social Security and defense, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

The Treasury said outlays for May rose to $671 billion, a record for the month and a 22% increase from May 2023, but this was due in part to the payment of $93 billion in June federal benefit payments during May, as June 1 fell on a Saturday.

May receipts totaled $324 billion, a 5% increase from May 2023. The total included the correction of an April anomaly that had previously classified $20.5 billion of corporate taxes as withheld Medicare taxes, a U.S. Treasury official said.

For the first eight months of the 2024 fiscal year, the government's deficit was $1.202 trillion, up 3% from the $1.165 trillion recorded in the year-ago period.

Year-to-date receipts totaled $3.288 trillion, up 10% from a year earlier, while outlays totaled $4.49 trillion, up 8% from the prior year period, Treasury said.