KABUL (Pajhwok): The US Treasury Department says the country’s total debt has surpassed $40 trillion for the first time, raising concerns over the state of US finances.
Reuters, citing the US Treasury Department, reported that total US public debt reached $40.047 trillion on Tuesday, August 18. Of this, $32.266 trillion was debt held by the public, while $7.782 trillion was intragovernmental debt.
According to the report, US federal debt has more than doubled in less than a decade. When Donald Trump was first sworn in as US president in January 2017, the country’s debt stood at $19.95 trillion.
It said about one-third of the subsequent increase in debt occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic as the government financed measures to respond to the crisis.
It added that US budget watchdogs had warned that continued growth in debt, without action by lawmakers to increase revenues, reduce spending or do both, could lead to a financial crisis.
According to the report, US debt has increased by $11.6 trillion during Trump’s two presidencies so far, compared with an $8.4 trillion increase during Joe Biden’s four-year presidency.
The report also noted that the cost of servicing US debt had increased to about $1.1 trillion.
It recalled that during the first 10 months of the 2026 fiscal year, interest payments on the debt had surpassed spending on Medicare, making them the second-largest category of federal expenditure after Social Security.
Trump, responding to concerns over volatility in the bond market, said he was not worried about the situation and argued that interest rates should fall as the US economy remained strong.
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