U.S. government posts $113 billion deficit in July

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government posted a $113 billion (86.83 billion pounds) budget deficit in July, a 24 percent drop from the same month last year, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday. The government had a deficit of $149 billion in July 2015, according to Treasury's monthly budget statement. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a $113 billion deficit for last month. When accounting for calendar adjustments, July would have shown a $101 billion deficit compared with an adjusted $107 billion deficit in the same month in 2015. The fiscal year-to-date deficit was $514 billion through July, up 10 percent from a $466 billion deficit at the same time last year. On an adjusted basis, the fiscal year-to-date gap was $505 billion last month. That compared with $423 billion at the same time last year. Receipts last month totalled $210 billion, a 7 percent decrease from July 2015, while outlays stood at $323 billion, a 14 percent fall from the same month a year ago. (Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Paul Simao)