The economic paralysis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic is forcing the U.S. Treasury to borrow far more than it ever has before — US$2.99 trillion in the current quarter alone. The amount is more than five times the government’s previous record borrowing for a quarter, US$569 billion, set in the depths of the 2008 financial crisis. “Borrowing needs are skyrocketing as Treasury needs cash to fund stimulus measures and to compensate for a plunge in revenues caused by massive job losses,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, an economist at Oxford Economics. Under the plans the Treasury unveiled on Monday, the government will borrow $4.48 trillion this budget year including a projected $677 billion in borrowing in the July-September quarter. CBO is projecting the U.S. economy will shrink by a record 40 percent at an annual rate in the current April-June quarter.-AP

Source: The Standard May 05, 2020 03:02 UTC