public debt to reach new records, says report

The United States’ public debt, which is only growing, will represent 118% of GDP in 2035, compared to 100% in 2025, according to an official report published Friday, a few days before Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Within ten years, the public debt of the world’s largest economy will reach $52,000 billion, predicts the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a public body responsible for providing American parliamentarians with budgetary and economic analyzes. It will then represent 118% of gross domestic product (GDP), compared to 100% in 2025, exceeding “the previous record of 106% of GDP”reached in 1946, just after the Second World War.

This jump in public debt is due to the fact that so-called compulsory expenditure (social programs for health, retirees and disabled people) as well as interest on the debt will increase faster than tax revenues, explains the report. According to these projections, the public deficit will reach nearly $2,700 billion in 2035, or 6.1% of GDP estimated at that date. “much more than the 3.8% known on average over the last 50 years”. Donald Trump, who is due to take office on January 20, has reiterated his desire to continue reducing taxes while slashing federal government spending. He assures that the tax revenues from the additional customs duties that he wants to put in place will make it possible to rebalance the accounts.