Deficit $20.04 Billion in July; Passes ’84 Total

The federal government ran $20.04 billion in the red in July, bringing its 1985 deficit above last year’s mark with two months left in the fiscal year.

The Treasury Department said that, in the first 10 months of fiscal 1985, the deficit swelled to $175.59 billion, surpassing last year’s 12-month total of $175.34 billion.

The Reagan Administration predicts that the deficit will be a record $203.02 billion by the time the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. That would surpass the old record of $195.4 billion set in fiscal 1983.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that, based on cuts made by Congress in the budget resolution passed Aug. 1, the deficit for fiscal 1986 will decline to $175 billion and that $203 billion will be cut from the deficit amount during the next three years.