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MNI INTERVIEW: Fed Cuts Won't Change Debt Track- Ex-CBO's Hall

​MNI speaks with a former CBO chief on the U.S. debt trajectory.

MNI (WASHINGTON) - The start of the Federal Reserve's interest rate easing cycle will reduce near-term pressures on America's annual deficit but the amount of debt in recent years has gone up so much that even lower interest rates will see higher fiscal costs, the former Director of the Congressional Budget Office Keith Hall told MNI.

"Actually the interest rate is really important for the debt just because we have such a large, very high level of debt that these changes in the interest rates have a lot more effect now than they used to," he said in an interview. "We're just going to continue to watch a greater and greater portion of the federal budget go towards paying off old debt, which is unfortunate."

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MNI (WASHINGTON) - The start of the Federal Reserve's interest rate easing cycle will reduce near-term pressures on America's annual deficit but the amount of debt in recent years has gone up so much that even lower interest rates will see higher fiscal costs, the former Director of the Congressional Budget Office Keith Hall told MNI.

"Actually the interest rate is really important for the debt just because we have such a large, very high level of debt that these changes in the interest rates have a lot more effect now than they used to," he said in an interview. "We're just going to continue to watch a greater and greater portion of the federal budget go towards paying off old debt, which is unfortunate."

Keep reading...Show less