The US budget deficit has hit a record high of over $3tn (£2.3tn), as the government continues to spend billions on coronavirus relief.
Within the first 11 months of the financial year, the US government spent a total of $6tn – $2tn of which was on Coronavirus relief.
The country only took in $3tn worth of taxes during this same period of time, leaving a difference that is over double what it was during the 2009 financial crisis when the full fiscal 2009 deficit totaled $1.4 trillion.
Nancy Vanden Houten of Oxford Economics said in a research note: “While we expect policymakers to enact another fiscal relief package, it won’t come soon enough to have an impact on this year’s deficit.”
There is one month left in the US’ financial year, which could see the budget deficit grow even higher.
Alan Blinder, a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, told the BBC earlier this year: “So far, the answer has been everything is fine, as to how much borrowing the United States government can do before investors start to feel satiated with US debt. But there is a legitimate question.”
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the full-year deficit in the US to reach $3.3tn.
