US Debt Hit Record High above $34 Trillion

The United States is witnessing an unprecedented deterioration in federal debt levels, due to the high deficit and large interest payments, in light of the high interest rate.

The size of the deficit recorded by the US federal budget in the first 6 months of the current fiscal year, amounting to about $1.064 trillion, according to data published by the US Congressional Budget Office.

This comes amid a jump in expenditures to $3.25 trillion, an increase of 6% over the same period last year.

The increase in spending was due to two main issues: the first is the increase in spending at all levels: economic stimulus packages, defense spending, health care, etc., and the other is a significant increase in interest payments, in light of the current high interest rate, which recorded an increase of an additional $133 billion, or 43%, bringing interest payments in just six months to $440 billion.

The size of the debt currently amounts to approximately $34.7 trillion, and this number is equivalent to the size of the economies of China, Germany, Japan, India, and Britain combined.

The US debt-to-GDP ratio currently stands at 120%, according to data from the Federal Reserve in St. Louis, while the acceptable ratio according to the standards of the European Maastricht Treaty is only 60%.

The Congressional Budget Office expects the debt to reach $54 trillion by 2034, 55% more than current levels.