Global General
US to borrow $392b in first quarter
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-02 05:39
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The US federal government will borrow $392 billion in the January to March quarter 2010 to finance the largest annual budget deficit in history, according to a Treasury Department statement released Monday.
The Treasury said that the projection is 86 billion lower than an estimate the department issued in November, when it expected to borrow $478 billion. The improvement is largely due to higher-than-expected repayments of about $90 billion in bailout funds by large banks.
The department also says it borrowed $260 billion in last year's fourth quarter, below an earlier estimate of $276 billion. Treasury expects to borrow $268 billion in the April to June quarter of this year.
The projections come the same day that President Barack Obama proposed a $3.83-trillion budget in fiscal year 2011 with a record $1.56-trillion deficit for fiscal year 2010 ending September. The fiscal shortfall in 2009 budget year was $1.41 trillion. The deficit for this year would be 10.6 percent of the total economy, a figure unmatched since the country was emerging from World War II.
