OREANDA-NEWS. The US Treasury Department claimed that it would need to borrow a record sum of 2.99 trillion dollars during the current April–June quarter to cover the cost of various measures related to the coronavirus pandemic. The agency explained that these funds are needed to finance initiatives that the government has approved in various programmes to support workers and enterprises with direct payments, wage protection, and other measures.

The US Treasury noted that this amount would far exceed the quarterly borrowings of 530 billion made in July–September 2008 amid the financial crisis.

Associated Press reports that the amount of 2.99 trillion dollars per quarter is significantly higher than the 1.28 trillion that the government held in the bond market throughout 2019.