The debt exceeded $34 trillion in December 2023.
A key factor that will likely lead to a further surge in the national debt is the sharp increase in the federal deficit, according to the CBO, which projects the annual shortfall increasing to $2.6 trillion in 2034, up from $1.6 trillion this year, adding $18.9 trillion to the national debt during the decade.
CBO’s Director Phillip Swagel told reporters last week that the US remained on track to rack up more debt as a share of its total economic output in 2034 than at any other time in its history.
“The first message of the projections is a familiar one: that the fiscal trajectory is daunting. On the other hand, it is a little bit less bad than it was in our projections last year,” Swagel said, as quoted by the New York Times, RT reported.
The budget office’s projections come as Congress faces another deadline next month to agree on federal spending legislation.
Meanwhile, interest rates in the US skyrocketed to two-decade highs over the past year, making borrowing costs a considerable contributor to the national debt, the report added.