April-June Borrowing Will Be Record $2.99T

WASHINGTON (AP) – The economic paralysis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic is forcing the U.S. Treasury to borrow far more than it ever has before – $2.99 trillion in the current quarter alone. The amount is more than five times the government’s previous record borrowing for a quarter, $569 billion, set in the depths of the 2008 financial crisis. It also dwarfs the $1.28 trillion the government borrowed in the bond market for all of 2019. The Treasury Department said the huge sum is needed to pay for nearly $3 trillion in rescue aid that the government has unleashed in programs to support tens of millions of jobless workers and shuttered businesses with direct payments and loans.