The U.S. federal government ran a relatively small budget deficit in December 2019 as revenues jumped month over month while outlays fell, the Treasury Department reported.

The monthly budget deficit fell to $13.27 billion in December 2019 from $208.84 billion the previous month.

The consensus estimate of economists polled by Econoday was for a December budget deficit of $15.0 billion.

Government receipts rose to $335.81 billion in December 2019 from $225.19 billion in the previous month, while outlays declined to $349.08 billion from $434.02 billion over the same period.

December's budget imbalance was also slightly lower than the year-ago monthly deficit of $13.54 billion.