Washington, March 20 (OsterDowJones) - U.S. government posted a $76.1 billion budget deficit in February, the Treasury announced Wednesday. The deficit was larger than the $62.5 billion deficit expected by analysts, and higher than the $48.2 billion deficit recorded in the same month of 2001. Government receipts in February were $98.0 billion, down 11.3% from a year ago. Spending totaled $174.0 billion, up 9.7% from the previous year. In other details from today's report, U.S. customs duties receipts, an indicator of trends in U.S. merchandise flows, totaled $1.351 in February. In the fiscal year to date, they totaled $7.700 billion, against $8.169 billion in the comparable year ago period. Treasury said it borrowed $63.882 billion from the public in February in the course of its federal debt financing operations. For the whole fiscal year, it borrowed $157.482 billion from the public.