8 May 2020: Public finances around the world are being severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with the United States being no exception.
![US federal deficit 2002 $159bn, $374bn, $413bn, $319bn, $248bn, $163bn, $455bn, 2009 $1,417bn, 2010, $1,294bn, $1,299bn, $1,089bn, $680bn, $483bn, $439bn, $587bn, $666bn, $779bn, $984bn, 2020 $3.7tn, 2021 $2.1tn.](https://i0.wp.com/martinwheatcroft.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/icaew122usfederaldeficit.jpg?resize=660%2C660)
The US Congressional Budget Office had already forecast that the federal deficit would exceed $1tn this year, but on 24 April 2020, it updated its predictions to suggest that the US federal deficit could reach $3.7tn or 18% of GDP in 2020. It is also predicting a deficit of $2.1tn or 10% of GDP in 2021.
These are substantially larger than the deficits experienced a decade ago during the financial crisis, reflecting a combination of a massive shock to the US economy and a series of large scale fiscal interventions on an unprecedented scale.
The CBO prediction is heavily caveated given the prospect of further fiscal interventions and the potential for a second wave of infection in the fall, so watch this space for further developments in the increasingly topical subject of accounting for governments.