Treasury Raises Quarterly Borrowing Estimate To $344 Billion

The U.S. government expects to borrow $344 billion in the October-December quarter, an estimate that is $74 billion higher than previously projected in August, the Treasury Department said Monday. The estimate includes an assumption of an end-of-December cash balance of $325 billion. For the January-March quarter, Treasury expects to borrow $165 billion in net marketable debt assuming a cash balance of $260 billion. During the July-September quarter, Treasury issued $133 billion in net marketable debt and ended with a cash balance of $199 billion. Earlier Monday, President Barack Obama signed a budget deal that suspends the debt limit until March 2017 allowing for Treasury to borrow the money to pay its bills.