WASHINGTON, June 12 (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.