WEB DESK
The United States plans to borrow a record 2.9 trillion US Dollars during the April-June quarter to deal with the raging Corona virus pandemic that has wreaked the world’s largest economy.
An official statement issued yesterday said that the US Treasury expects to borrow the amount in privately-held net marketable debt, assuming an end-of-June cash balance of 800 billion US Dollars.
The statement added that the increase in privately-held net marketable borrowing is primarily driven by the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, including expenditures from new legislation to assist individuals and businesse and changes to tax receipts. The latest spending packages are estimated to be worth about 14 per cent of the country’s economy.
The US Congressional Budget Office last month predicted the budget deficit would hit 3.7 trillion US Dollars this year, while the national debt soared above 100 per cent of the GDP.
The Corona virus pandemic has claimed over 69,000 lives and infected over 1,180,000 people in the US, the worst-hit nation.