The White House said on Wednesday that US budget picture is improving resulting from surging tax revenues and a steady economic growth.

A new White House report issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) showed it is project that US federal budget deficit will drop to 333 billion dollars in fiscal year of 2005 which will end on September 30, nearly 100 billion dollars below earlier estimates.

The new estimates reflect significant improvement in revenues which are so far coming in at levels 15 percent higher than last year.

Just last February, the White House predicted a 427-billion- dollar deficit for the budget year of 2005 and red ink totaling 1. 1 trillion dollars over five years.

The US federal deficit hit a record high of 412 billion dollars in fiscal year of 2004 which ended on September 30 of last year.

"The nation's budget picture has improved dramatically," said the OMB report. "Due in large part to tax relief, the economy is strengthening and the growing economy is producing the tax receipts necessary to cut the deficit far faster than was forecast just five months ago."

US President George W. Bush also said on Wednesday that the declining federal deficit is a good news.

"These numbers indicate we're going to cut the deficit in half faster than the year 2009, so long as Congress holds the line on spending," he said.

Source: Xinhua