The U.S. federal government registered a budget deficit in the amount of about 198.2 billion U. S. dollars in March, the second largest monthly budget gap in the current fiscal year, the U.S. Treasury Department announced on Wednesday.

The figure was slightly lower than the 231.7-billion-dollar budget deficit in February, the biggest monthly budget imbalance in U.S. history, fresh evidence of the fiscal pressure facing the U.S. federal government.

The U.S. federal government raked in a revenue of 171.2 billion dollars last month, and registered outlays of 369.4 billion dollars.

The combined budget deficit in the first six months of the 2012 fiscal year staring in October 2011 stood at 779 billion dollars, said the department.

The trend has put the federal government budget gap on the path to surpassing 1 trillion dollars for the fourth consecutive fiscal year.

The U.S. federal government ran a record budget deficit of 1.41 trillion dollars in the 2009 fiscal year and a 1.29-trillion- dollar imbalance in the 2010 fiscal year.

In his latest pitch to push "Buffett Rule", U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that the country could not afford to give tax cuts to the wealthy and they should do their fair share in helping reduce the country's massive deficits.