12 October 2018 10:39 am
US, (rt.com), 11 Oct, 2018 - The US Treasury is selling $74 billion of debt this week to fund the rising budget deficit stemming from the Trump administration’s massive tax cut introduced last December and the country’s massive overall debt.
In late September, the Treasury sold a combined $106 billion of debt amid cooling demand from investors.
With countries like Japan, China, Russia and Turkey buying less and selling more US debt, foreign purchases at Treasury auctions have slowed down. One of the reasons is the trade war between the US and China, which has given a boost to
the dollar.
Last week’s data shows that the US budget deficit soared to an estimated $782 billion in Donald Trump’s first full fiscal year as president. This is the largest fiscal deficit for the US since 2012.
America’s debt currently stands at $21.5 trillion, while the Treasury said the US government paid $523 billion in interest in fiscal 2018, the highest on record.