WASHINGTON, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - Iraq is amassing a huge budget surplus of soaring oil export revenues, but is spending little on reconstruction, for which the United States is bearing the financial burden, a US government report said.

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - The US government's budget deficit is expected to balloon to a record 482 billion dollars in the next fiscal year, largely due to an emergency economic stimulus and a slowing economy, a White House report showed Monday.

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - The US government's budget deficit is expect to balloon to a record 482 billion dollars in the next fiscal year, the White House budget office said Monday.

The official budget released by the Office of Management and Budget cited the 'recent economic slowdown' in presenting its updated deficit projections.

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - The White House has revised upward its estimate of the budget deficit for next fiscal year to 490 billion dollars, a senior administration official said Monday.

The official meanwhile revised downward to 400 billion dollars the administration's calculation of the deficit for the current fiscal year, which ends September 30.

MADRID, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - Spain could see a budget deficit this year for the first time since 2004, Economy Minister Pedro Solbes said Tuesday, in yet another sign of the decline in the country's once-booming economy.

MADRID, July 21, 2008 (AFP) - Spain posted a budget deficit for first half of the year, the economy ministry said, the first since 2005.

During the first six months of 2008, the budget shortfall was 4.68 billion euros (7.42 billion dollars) compared to a surplus of 5.22 billion euros the same time last year, it said in a statement.

LONDON, July 18, 2008 (AFP) - Britain's public finances struck a record deficit of 15.5 billion pounds (19.5 billion euros, 30.9 billion dollars) in June compared with the equivalent figure last year, official data showed Friday.

LONDON, July 18, 2008 (AFP) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was under fire from opposition politicians on Friday after a report the government was considering rewriting his trumpeted fiscal rules on public spending and debt.

BRUSSELS, July 17, 2008 (AFP) - EU governments on Tuesday trimmed the bloc's 2009 draft budget back by nearly two billion euros (3.2 billion dollars) from what the European Commission had proposed.

BRUSSELS, July 15, 2008 (AFP) - French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier said Tuesday that he hoped to broker a deal on reforming the European Union's vast and expensive farm support scheme in November.