The Treasury Department announced on Monday that it expects to borrow $3 trillion during the second quarter this year.
The amount is five times greater than the amount the federal government borrowed at the height of the 2008-2009 financial crisis. It is also more than the $1.28 trillion the government borrowed in the bond market for all of 2019.
During the first quarter of 2020, Treasury borrowed $477 billion. The increase in borrowing during the second quarter is primarily driven by the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, including the over $3 trillion in new spending that Congress has recently approved and the fact that deadlines for tax receipts have been postponed.
Before the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States, the Treasury estimated that it would be able to pay down $56 billion in debt during the second quarter. Instead, it is borrowing nearly $3 trillion.
The Congressional Budget Office recently projected that by the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, the federal budget deficit will be $3.7 trillion, and that federal debt held by the public would be larger than gross domestic product, 101%.
