May 13. The US budget ran a surplus of USD 159.3 bn in April against USD 177.7 bn last April, the US Department of Finance reported. Revenues jumped to USD 403.8 bn, a record figure for April, against USD 383.6 bn in the same period a year ago. Spending, however, also climbed to USD 244.5 bn from USD 205.9 bn a year earlier. For the first seven months of fiscal 2008 that began on October 1 the budget deficit rose 88.4% on an annualized basis to USD 152.2 bn from USD 80.8 bn in the first seven months of fiscal 2007.