WASHINGTON, October 25. /TASS/. The US public debt is one of the most significant risks for the global economy, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov told TASS. He is now in Washington to participate in the autumn session of the governing bodies of the IMF and the World Bank.
“Today we raised the issue of the exponentially growing US public debt. At the G20 (the meeting of heads and representatives of the finance ministries and central banks of the G20 on October 24 in Washington – TASS), no one except Russia said a word about this,” the Deputy Finance Minister said, noting that “the debt, which already amounts to about $36 trillion, is really growing exponentially.”
“Almost a trillion a month is being added. That’s crazy,” he stressed.
“Nobody says anything about this, the IMF wrote about it carefully. But this is a key problem of sustainable development! Colleagues prefer to remain silent about this,” Chebeskov went on.
“Considering the overall political decisions that we have seen from the US recently, most likely, at some point, the holders of this debt, especially <…> foreign holders of this debt, will find themselves in some not very pleasant position,” he said.
“If you put yourself in the shoes of the US Department of the Treasury, then in the foreseeable future they will have a choice: to pay coupons, on their bonds, to China, for example, or to provide social benefits or social payments to [American] citizens. Imagine what choice they will make. And at some point, they will have to make such a choice,” Chebeskov noted.
“When you look at the trend, at this problem, it is scary. Probably, my key thesis is that we are talking about one of the most significant risks for the global economy, and this topic is not discussed,” he concluded.
On July 29, the US Department of the Treasury announced that the country’s national debt exceeded $35 trillion for the first time in history. According to forecasts from the Congressional Budget Office, the national debt in 2034 will exceed $50 trillion (122% of GDP). According to the office’s estimate, the average annual GDP growth in 2029-2034 will be 1.8%.