在各界擔憂聲中，美國聯邦政府債務規模近日突破了35萬億美元大關。由于債務規模不斷攀升、美聯儲長期維持高利率，美國聯邦政府的借貸成本正在不斷上升。美國彼得·彼得森基金會警告稱，長期國債利息負擔已成為聯邦政府財政預算的沉重拖累，并將對美國長期經濟前景構成重大挑戰。

The Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest-rate hiking campaign, aimed at quelling inflation, has made debt more expensive to issue for the federal government. The interest burden on outstanding US debt remained a major drag on the budget. Interest costs in the first 10 months of the fiscal year totaled $956 billion, up 32% from 2023.
美聯儲旨在抑制通脹而激進加息，增加了聯邦政府的發債成本。未償美債的利息負擔仍然是政府預算的主要“累贅”。本財年美國國債前10個月的利息成本總計為9560億美元，較2023財年同期增長32%。

The growth in interest costs presents a significant challenge in the long-term as well. According to CBO’s most recent long-term projections, interest payments would total around $78 trillion over the next 30 years and would take up 34 percent of all federal revenues by 2054. Interest costs would also become the largest “program” over the next few decades — surpassing Social Security in 2051.
美國彼得·彼得森基金會認為，美國國債利息成本的增長對長期經濟前景構成了重大挑戰。根據美國國會預算辦公室最新的長期預測，未來30年，美債利息支出總額將達到約78萬億美元，到2054年將占聯邦財政收入的34%。利息成本也將成為未來幾十年最大的 “支出項”，到2051年將超過社會保障投入。

Ballooning interest costs threaten to crowd out important public investments that can fuel economic growth in the future. CBO estimates that by 2054, interest costs are projected to be nearly three times what the federal government has historically spent on R&D, nondefense infrastructure, and education, combined.
彼得·彼得森基金會指出，不斷膨脹的利息成本有可能會擠占能夠促進未來經濟增長的重要公共投資。國會預算辦公室估計，到 2054 年，利息成本預計將是聯邦政府歷來在研發、非國防基礎設施和教育方面支出總和的近三倍。

The long-term fiscal challenges facing the United States are serious. As interest rates rise and the nation’s debt grows, it will become even more expensive to borrow in the future.
該基金會稱，美國面臨的長期財政挑戰十分嚴峻。隨著利率的上升和債務的增加，未來的借貸成本將更加高昂。

英文來源：Fortune, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

編輯：董靜

審校：陳丹妮 齊磊