MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US fiscal 2009 budget deficit equivalent to 12.3% of GDP

US Congress Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner

In appearance before the United States Congress Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that the huge budget deficits are greatly consequence of the previous administration’s failure in addressing necessary investments in energy security and health.

“We stared our administration following a long period in which our government had no intentions of doing the necessary long term investments in health care, energy and education”, said Geithner before the Senate Finance Committee in support of the 3.6 trillion US dollars 2010 budget outline proposed by the White House.

Geithner called President Obama's budget an honest and candid depiction of where the US economy stands and what must be done to start repairing it.

The US Treasury Secretary revealed that the Obama administration is estimating a 1.8 trillion US dollars deficit for the 2009 fiscal year which ends next September 30. Of that amount which is equivalent to 12.3% of the US GDP, 1.3 trillion was inherited from the George W. Bush administration.