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Oil
prices recede from record highs
New York: Oil has faded from a US$67 high on Monday
but the United States' refusal to rule out using force
against Iran, OPEC's second biggest producer, prevented
prices from slipping further.
US
light crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled
at $US66.27 per barrel, down 59 cents, having surged more
than $US1 on Friday to touch a record $US67.10.
London
Brent crude fell 87 cents at $US65.58, after hitting a
record high of $US66.85 on the International Petroleum
Exchange.
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US
budget: Higher tax collections to reduce deficit
Washington: The Congressional Budget Office has
predicted that the federal budget deficit would decline
20 percent this year because of an unexpected surge in
corporate income tax payments, but failed to notice any
improvement in the long-term fiscal outlook for the next
decade.
The
office, a nonpartisan budget agency, predicted that the
deficit would fall by US$81bn, to US$331bn, in the current
fiscal year, from a record US$412bn last year.
In
March, the agency projected a 14 percent increase in corporate
income tax payments this year, but it now foresees an
increase of 42 percent, or $80 billion, to $269 billion
this year, from $189 billion in 2004.
Representative
John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina, the senior Democrat
on the House Budget Committee, said the projection for
this year might "seem better by comparison with the
deficits of 2003 and 2004, which were the worst in history."
But, Mr. Spratt said, "at $331 billion, the deficit
for 2005 still ranks as one of the top three."
The
current fiscal year ends in seven weeks, so the latest
estimates for 2005 are considered highly reliable. The
budget office predicts that the deficit will be $314 billion
in 2006 and will remain above $300 billion a year through
2010.
To
finance the deficit, the Treasury borrows money from the
public. Debt held by the public will total $4.6 trillion
this year, up from $4.3 trillion last year, and will climb
to $6.3 trillion in 2010, the budget office said.
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