US: Government Borrowed Nearly $1.1 Trillion In First Half of 2024 Fiscal Year

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The US Treasury Department has reported that the United States borrowed $1.07 trillion in the first six months of fiscal year 2024. The figure was reported in the Department’s latest Monthly Treasury Statement released on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s statement shows that receipts rose to $2.18 trillion, boosted by a 32% increase in corporate tax revenues, the Fiscal Times explained.

Outlays increased to $3.25 trillion, the statement showed: interest payments spiked by 36% to $522 billion. Defense spending rose by 6% to $410 billion while Social Security rose 8% to $741 billion, the Fiscal Times noted.

“The interest burden on outstanding US debt remained the biggest reason for the widening deficit,” Bloomberg stated in a report. “Interest costs in the first half of the fiscal year were $522 billion, a 36% jump from 2023.”

“The Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest-rate hiking campaign has made debt more expensive, increasing the burden for the US budget,” Bloomberg said. “The weighted average interest rate on outstanding US interest-bearing government debt was 3.22% at the end of March — the highest since April 2010 and marking a roughly 65 basis point increase from a year before.”

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