Washington (CNN) The US debt is projected to exceed the size of the entire country's economy next year, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. It will be the first time the federal debt could be bigger than the US gross domestic product since 1946, just after World War II. The CBO also projected that the federal budget deficit will hit $3.3 trillion this year, more than triple the shortfall recorded in 2019. That would be the largest deficit as a percentage of GDP since 1945. The increase is mostly caused by the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, which is shrinking GDP as Congress spends trillions of dollars to help keep the economy afloat.

Source: CNN September 02, 2020 19:07 UTC