(MENAFN) US Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, stated that on the final day of the current month, the federal government will reach its debt ceiling of USD16.4 trillion, the amount it is permitted to borrow, reported Xinhua News.
Geithner said that soon, the Treasury will start taking certain extraordinary measures allowed by law to temporarily push back the date, or else the US would default on its legal obligation.
He noted that these measures could generate around USD200 billion in headroom under the debt limit, and would help the federal government run for nearly 2 months.
In the past, the Treasury has taken several extraordinary measures, such as asset sales to avoid the default on US legal obligations in times of 11th-hour fiscal negotiations between Democrats and Republicans.
It is worth noting that if the US Congress fails to act by the end of the year, the fiscal cliff, a combination of tax hikes and sweeping expenditure cuts totaling nearly USD600 billion, will take effect, driving the economy back into recession.
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