Costs for Iraq war approach record - US official

WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) US costs for the Iraq war are likely to exceed 0 billion this year, approaching the record reached in the fiscal year that just ended, White House budget director Rob Portman told reporters yesterday.

Portman also predicted that strong revenue growth would help bring down the overall US budget deficit, offsetting some of the war costs.

Asked if he thought the deficit for fiscal year 2007 would come in below the forecast of 339 billion dollars the White House gave a few months ago, Portman replied, ''Yes, I do.'' Nearly four years into the Iraq war, President George W Bush has maintained a practice of using emergency-spending bills to finance the costs of the war.

But the Iraq Study Group, a high-level panel that recommended a change in course for the war, also suggested that the Iraq war costs be included in the annual budget process to make them more transparent.

Democrats, who are set to take over Congress in January, have also pressed the administration to put the war costs into the regular budget.

The White House has resisted doing so, saying the costs are difficult to predict.

But Portman said that with the unveiling of the budget for 2008, the administration will provide ''more information than we have in the past'' on estimates for future war spending.

The White House previously had penciled in an estimate of 0 billion for Iraq war costs in the current 2007 fiscal year, which began on October 1.

''That number will end up being low,'' Portman said.

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