Press Release
October 22, 2024
Treasury’s FY 2024 Statement Paints a Dimmer Fiscal Picture
In a new insight, Director of Fiscal Policy Jordan Haring breaks down the data in the U.S. Department of Treasury’s final Monthly Treasury Statement for fiscal year (FY) 2024.
Key points:
- The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Monthly Treasury Statement shows a $1.8 trillion budget deficit, the equivalent of 6.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP); this is $138 billion higher than the deficit recorded in FY 2023.
- Federal debt held by the public rose by $2.0 trillion to $28.3 trillion; as a share of the economy, debt grew to an estimated 98 percent of GDP, 1 percentage point higher than last year.
- Interest payments on the national debt topped $1.0 trillion, eclipsing spending on defense and Medicare; net interest was the second-largest government expenditure behind Social Security.
- Of note, Department of Education spending rose by 753 percent in FY 2024 due to an accounting quirk in which President Biden’s announced student debt cancellation of FY 2023 was recorded as a savings after the Supreme court ruled it illegal.