Monthly Treasury Statement, table 6 · means of financing the federal deficit, 12 months to each month-end
How does the government pay for the federal deficit?
The federal deficit was $1.99T in the 12 months to : borrowing from the public $2.07T, reduction of operating cash −$93.22B and other means $12.75B.
How the federal deficit was financed, 12 months to each month-end
- Other means $12.75B
- Reduction of operating cash −$93.22B
- Borrowing from the public $2.07T
- The total $1.99T
Each column is the 12 months to a month-end. A means of financing that raised the money is drawn above the zero line and one that took it away below it; the dark mark is the total, the federal deficit itself. The sums are ours, worked out from the Treasury's monthly amounts. Pointing at a period shows its amounts. Each year's end is under "The numbers behind the chart".
Observed .
Right now
The federal deficit was $1.99T in the 12 months to : borrowing from the public $2.07T, reduction of operating cash −$93.22B and other means $12.75B.
The three means add up to $1.99T of the federal deficit in the 12 months to .
Over time
A year earlier, in the 12 months to , the federal deficit was $1.78T; in the 12 months to , the federal deficit was $1.99T.
Since , the federal deficit was largest in the 12 months to , at $4.09T, and smallest in the 12 months to , at $402.33B.
Reduction of operating cash was below zero in 78 of the 128 periods.
Other means was below zero in 82 of the 128 periods.
OursOur arithmetic
The amounts are the Treasury's. Each period adds twelve monthly amounts and the other means are the part of the statement's total that borrowing and the cash balance leave, worked out by 500metrics.
Understanding deficit financing
Where it stands today
Borrowing from the public was $2.07T of the federal deficit in the 12 months to .
How is this chart made?
When the government spends more than it collects, the difference is the deficit, and the Treasury's monthly statement shows how it was paid for. It lists three means: borrowing from the public (the increase in the debt held outside the government), the reduction of operating cash (money taken out of the Treasury's own account at the Federal Reserve), and other means, the rest, which includes changes in the loans the government has made, in the deposits it holds for others and in the interest it owes but has not yet paid.
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The three add up to the deficit, so a part below zero takes away from it. The reduction of operating cash is below zero when the Treasury's cash balance rose: the government then borrowed more than the deficit needed and kept the difference in its account.
The amounts are the Treasury's, as the statement prints them, in dollars and cents; this page shows whole millions of dollars. Each period adds twelve monthly figures, and the sums are worked out by 500metrics.
The numbers behind the chart
How much did each means of financing come to in the 12 months to the end of September in each year?11 rows, newest first; Millions of dollars in the 12 months to the month-end; a part below zero takes away from the deficit
| 12 months to | Borrowing from the public | Reduction of operating cash | Other means | Deficit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,072,997 | −93,220 | 12,752 | 1,992,529 | |
| 1,973,091 | −5,100 | −192,280 | 1,775,711 | |
| 1,959,809 | −228,836 | 96,755 | 1,827,728 | |
| 1,982,669 | −20,896 | −266,702 | 1,695,071 | |
| 1,969,815 | −420,834 | −173,544 | 1,375,437 | |
| 1,267,948 | 1,566,519 | −62,300 | 2,772,167 | |
| 4,216,280 | −1,399,196 | 314,991 | 3,132,075 | |
| 1,051,607 | 2,229 | −69,452 | 984,384 | |
| 1,084,466 | −225,391 | −80,069 | 779,006 | |
| 498,301 | 193,990 | −28,053 | 664,238 | |
| 1,051,815 | −154,595 | −309,826 | 587,394 |
The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.
What do the figures leave out, and what are their dates?Limits and dates
What this number cannot tell you
- The other means are what is left of the statement's total for the financing when borrowing and the cash balance are taken out: 500metrics works them out as that difference. The statement's operating cash is the Treasury's balance at the Federal Reserve.
- Borrowing from the public can be larger than the deficit, when the Treasury adds to its cash balance in the same period, and a period that ends in a surplus has a total below zero. The page says deficit for a total above zero and surplus for one below.
- Table 6 begins in March 2015 in the data the Treasury's Fiscal Data service gives; older statements are published as documents only. The first period ends in February 2016, because it needs twelve months.
- A month whose total line of the financing differs from the deficit line of table 5 by more than a million dollars is left out, and so are the periods that would hold it. The Treasury revises months after it first prints them; each month is as the table gives it now.
Dates
- Observed
- Checked by us
- Next expected
Observed .
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