Economics
U.S. Budget Gap Triples to Record $3.1 Trillion on Virus Relief
- Shortfall relative to economy is largest since World War II
- Total outlays, including those for pandemic relief, soar 47.3%
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The U.S. budget deficit more than tripled to a record $3.1 trillion in the latest fiscal year on the government’s massive spending aimed at softening the blow from the coronavirus pandemic.
The increase brought the deficit as a share of gross domestic product to 16% in the year ending in September, the largest since 1945, a Treasury Department report showed Friday. At the end of the financial crisis in 2009, the ratio was close to 10% before slowly narrowing through 2015.