US debt exceeds $23 tn for first time in history

Washington, Nov 2 (IANS) The US governments public debt has exceeded $23 trillion for the first time in history, according to data released by the Department of Treasury.

As of October 31, 2019, the total public debt stood at over $23 trillion, Efe news reported citing the Treasury as saying on Friday.

According to The Hill news, the national debt has grown by about 16 per cent since President Donald Trump came to power in January 2017 when it stood at $19.9 trillion.

The US debt exceeded $22 trillion for the first time 10 months ago.

On October 25, the State Department said the US budget deficit had skyrocketed 26 per cent this fiscal, just under $1 trillion, at $984 billion, the highest in seven years.

The fiscal imbalance as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) increased from 3.8 per cent in 2018 to 4.6 per cent this year.

In 2017, the budgetary imbalance was $666,000 million, and last year it amounted to $779,000 million.

During the election campaign, the president had repeatedly criticized the fiscal deficit during his predecessor, Barack Obama’s administration.

However, after the first three years of Trump’s term, the US deficit has already risen by almost 50 per cent.