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USA: Deficit fell to around 2.8 trillion US dollars
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill. Photo: Al Drago / Pool Bloomberg / AP / dpa
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The US government has succeeded in further reducing the deficit in this year’s budget. But there is still no talk of stability, said Finance Minister Yellen.
The U.S. government’s fiscal deficit in fiscal 2021 fell slightly by $ 360 billion year over year to $ 2.77 trillion.
The deficit from October 2020 through September 2021 corresponded to 12.4 percent of US economic output, as the Treasury Department announced on Friday. In the 2020 budget year, the deficit was still around $ 3.13 trillion or 15 percent of economic output due to the economic stimulus packages to cope with the corona crisis.
Given the good economic development in the US this year, the budget deficit was almost 900 billion lower than assumed in May, as the department said.
US economy is “still vulnerable”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the numbers showed President Joe Biden’s economic policies were working. However, she warned that further support was needed for a full recovery from the Corona crisis. The congress must decide on the investment packages proposed by Biden for the modernization of the infrastructure and an expansion of social benefits. “Although the country’s economic recovery is stronger than that of other rich countries, it remains fragile,” she warned.
Biden’s latest draft budget for the fiscal year 2022, which began in October, assumes a deficit of 1.66 trillion dollars or 6.8 percent of economic output.