U.S. Posts Deficit of $22.2 Billion in July, Treasury Says

The federal government posted a monthly deficit of $22.2 billion in July, bringing the budget shortfall for the first 10 months of fiscal 1986 to nearly $189.1 billion, the Treasury said Thursday.

With two months to go in the government’s fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, accumulating receipts and outlays are shaping up into the same kind of massive red ink that prompted passage of the Gramm-Rudman budget balancing amendment last year.

Record Shortfall Seen

Despite early projections to the contrary, the 1986 shortfall seems certain to exceed last year’s record $211.9 billion. The Office of Management and Budget predicted two weeks ago that it would top $230 billion.

Budget Director James C. Miller III said slack tax revenues associated with sluggish economic growth forced the revised estimate.

The deficit for the first 10 months of fiscal 1985 was $183.6 billion.

Gramm-Rudman mandates slashing the deficit to $144 billion--with a $10-billion cushion of error--in fiscal 1987, and making further cuts to bring the budget into balance with a zero deficit in 1991.

Debt Limit Increase

Meanwhile, in Santa Barbara, President Reagan signed legislation Thursday increasing the limit on the national debt to a record $2.111 trillion and permiting government bills to be paid through Sept. 30.

The bill, passed last week in the final hours before Congress recessed for Labor Day, had to be signed by midnight Thursday to permit payment of obligations authorized last week.