Cost To Service Debt Will Skyrocket Over Next Decade

The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) released their updated budget projections for FY2013 - FY2023 earlier this week.

The report revealed some good news - the deficit for the 2013 fiscal year is projected to be roughly $200 billion less than originally anticipated, thanks to a mix of higher than expected revenues and lower than expected outlays.

Between the 2014 and 2023 fiscal years, the United States is projected to have over $6.3 trillion in deficit spending. The lowest anticipated deficit, according to the CBO, will come in 2015, when the country is expected to post a deficit of "just" $378 billion.

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One of the most troubling numbers included in the CBO report is the total net interest that the country is slated to spend over the next decade.

According to the CBO, the United States will spend a whopping $5.216 trillion between 2014 and 2023 to service its debt.

With the national debt load continuing to climb and interest rates expected to increase, the United States will face a staggering increase in the amount of money that it will need to pay out on a yearly basis to service its debt.

The CBO estimates that the United States will spend $223 billion to service its debt in the current fiscal year. Let's look at how this is expected to increase over the next decade:

2014 - $237 billion
2015 - $264 billion
2016 - $313 billion
2017 - $398 billion
2018 - $497 billion
2019 - $573 billion
2020 - $644 billion
2021 - $703 billion
2022 - $764 billion
2023 - $823 billion

That's right - by 2023, the United States is expected to be spending $823 billion per year just to service its debt. That's an unbelievable number. Consider that, by 2023, the total outlays for the country are expected to total $5.855 trillion per year.

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Debt held by the public (which consists of money owed to individual investors, pension funds, foreign investors, etc) is expected to total $19.07 trillion by 2023.

Source: CBO.gov - Updated Budget Projections: Fiscal Years 2013 to 2023 (*.pdf)

Filed under: General Knowledge