Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Wednesday she expects to provide Congress with an update in the next two weeks on how close the federal government is to defaulting on its debt.
In an interview with Bloomberg News in Niigata, Yellen said: “I don’t want to go into specifics as to when we’ll have an update or when we think we’ll have additional information, but it’s certainly within the next few weeks. It is.”
Yellen last sent a letter to Congress on January 1. At the time, he said he expected the Treasury Department to run out of funds as soon as June 1.
Special U.S. debt ceiling could be exhausted by June 1, Yellen says
U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen (May 12)
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
As the White House and Republicans in Congress continue to negotiate debt ceilings and spending, Yellen defended a surge in bond issuance under a Biden administration and her optimistic outlook for the U.S. economy.
At the same time, Yellen was wary not only of debt default risks, but also of rising interest rates and worsening conditions in the commercial real estate sector.
“I feel banks are relatively cautious in their lending standards,” said Yellen when it comes to lending to commercial real estate. “On the other hand, demand for office space has been hit quite hard by the coronavirus crisis, and interest rates are rising,” he said.
It said it expected supervisors and regulators to monitor banks’ exposure to the sector “very closely”, adding that such work “is part of ongoing supervision”. “I don’t see this as a huge financial stability risk,” he said.
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Original title:Yellen to Update Congress on Default Timing Within Two Weeks(excerpt)
(Updates to add U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen’s remarks)
2023-05-13 02:19:38
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