US budget gap triples to record $ 3.1tr
Rising debt could end up sparking inflation and repelling investors
The US budget deficit more than tripled to a record $ 3.1 trillion in the latest fiscal year on the government’s massive spending aimed at softening the blow from the coronavirus pandemic.
The increase brought the deficit as a share of gross domestic product to 16 per cent in the year ending in September, the largest since 1945, a Treasury Department report showed. At the end of the financial crisis in 2009, the ratio was close to 10 per cent before slowly narrowing through 2015.
Investors have handed the government ultra- low borrowing costs to finance the spending, resulting in a 9 per cent drop in federal interest payments during the year. But the national debt is now bigger than the size of the economy, and it could be almost
double GDP by 2050 as an ageing population places more demands on Social Security and Medicare, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Lawmakers deadlocked
The risk is that in the long term, rising debt could end up sparking inflation and repelling investors if themarket becomes
too saturated. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and other officials say eventually the debt trajectory will need to be addressed, but now isn’t the time to worry because unemployment remains high and the pandemic has crushed many businesses, warranting further support for the economy.
While the central bank cut the benchmark interest rate to near zero in March and expects to keep borrowing costs very low likely for years to come, lawmakers remain deadlocked over additional fiscal aid ahead of the November 3 election.
The report showed federal spending jumped 47.3 per cent to $ 6.55 trillion in fiscal 2020, driven by increased outlays for unemployment compensation and small businesses.