U.S. to borrow $3tn as spending soars amid pandemic

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States has said it wants to borrow a record $3tn in the second quarter, as coronavirus-related rescue packages blow up the budget, the BBC reports.

The sum is more than five times the previous quarterly record, set at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

In all of 2019, the country borrowed $1.28tn. The US has approved about $3tn in virus-related relief, including health funding and direct payouts.

Total U.S. government debt is now near $25tn.

The U.S. Congressional Budget Office last month predicted the budget deficit would hit $3.7tn this year, while the national debt soared above 100% of GDP.

Last week, the chair of America's central bank, Jerome Powell, said he would have liked to see the US government's books be in better shape before the pandemic.