US could hit debt limit as of mid-Dec, warns treasury secretary

ISTANBUL

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that the US could hit its debt ceiling as of Dec. 15 and that the Congress should raise or suspend the spending limit, according to an open letter to the Congressional leadership late on Tuesday.

Revising a previous forecast from Dec. 3, she said: "The President signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which appropriates $118 billion for the Highway Trust Fund.

"These funds must be transferred into the Highway Trust Fund within one month after the enactment of the legislation, and the transfer will be completed on December 15."

Underlining that these funds would be invested in nonmarketable Treasury securities subject to the debt limit, she added:

"While I have a high degree of confidence that Treasury will be able to finance the U.S. government through December 15 and complete the Highway Trust Fund investment, there are scenarios in which Treasury would be left with insufficient remaining resources to continue to finance the operations of the U.S. government beyond this date."

She added that the Congress must raise or suspend the debt limit as soon as possible to ensure the full faith and credit of the country.