05.25.22

CBO Budget and Economic Outlook Fast Facts

WASHINGTON – Today the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2022-2032. This new report contains CBO’s projections about how the budget and economy will look under existing laws for the next decade.

FAST FACTS on the CBO Budget and Economic Outlook:

  • Record debt will only get worse. By 2032, debt held by the public will be 110% of gross domestic product (GDP), which will be higher than any point in our nation’s history. By 2052, CBO projects public debt will soar to 185% of GDP and continue to grow from there.
  • Deficits, deficits, deficits. Annual deficits will exceed $1 trillion after 2023, reaching nearly $2.3 trillion in 2032.
  • Tax collection is high and spending is out of control. Over a ten year period, CBO projects that spending and revenues will exceed their 50-year historical averages, with spending averaging 23.2% of GDP and revenues averaging 18.1% of GDP.
  • Higher rates and mounting debt cause interest costs to triple. Net interest costs triple from $399 billion in 2022 to $1.2 trillion by 2032. By 2032, interest costs will be 3.3% of GDP, which is the highest percentage since the data was first reported in 1940. Beginning in 2029, net interest costs will eclipse what the nation spends on national defense.
  • Record-breaking inflation. Inflation has recently reached its fastest pace in nearly 40 years. It is expected to remain high in 2022.
  • Trust funds depleted. CBO continues to project upcoming exhaustions for several major federal trust funds: Social Security’s Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund (2033), Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund (2030), and the Highway Trust Fund (2027).