(Reuters) – The U.S. government posted a $191 Billion budget deficit in November. This is 32% more than the $145 Billion shortfall a previous year. Pandemic-related expenditures drove record spending for the month. It outpaced a sharp increase in individual income tax receipts due to the recovery economy.

The November deficit came in at $4 billion less than the median estimate of economists polled to by Reuters, $195 billion.

The Treasury Department reported that receipts in the second month for the federal government’s fiscal-year totalled $281 billion. This is an increase of 28%, and it was a record amount for November. Individual tax receipts rose by 27%, to $244 billion

An official at Treasury said that the growth is due in large part to improvements in the economy, and people returning to work after the widespread shut downs caused last year by COVID-19’s pandemic. This could have triggered a brief but severe recession.

Also, November’s spending was record-breaking with total expenditures of $473 Billion, a 30% increase over November 2020’s $365 Billion. The majority of this increase was due to spending increases in the Treasury and Health and Human Services departments.

Fiscal year 2022 has seen a deficit of $356 billion. That’s a 17% drop from the initial two months of fiscal 2021. The record year-to date increases in government revenue are fueling this decrease.