US Treasury estimates federal borrowing will total $552 billion this year, lowest in 8 years

The Treasury Department estimates that it will end up borrowing $552 billion for the current budget year, the lowest total in eight years.

The Treasury's borrowing estimate covers the budget year that began last October and will end on Sept. 31. The total would represent a drop of 17.6 percent from last year's $670 billion total. It will represent the smallest annual amount since the government borrowed $150 billion in 2007.

Borrowing began to surge after 2007 to meet a string of record deficits. Between 2009 and 2012, the deficit — the gap between revenues and spending — topped $1 trillion as the government struggled to cope with a financial crisis and the worst recession since the 1930s.

The government's current total debt stands at $18.1 trillion.