The federal government recorded a budget surplus of $58 billion in April, the Congressional Budget Office estimated yesterday, breaking a streak of deficits that began in 2008.

The surplus, the first of Barack Obama’s presidency, was the result of both increased tax collection and lower government spending. Before April, the government had not run a surplus since September 2008, the month that the financial crisis struck the US economy. The CBO’s estimate is released before the Treasury Department’s monthly budget report. That report is scheduled for later this week.