Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the national debt could reach its statutory limit between 14 and 23  January 2025.

She noted that the Treasury Department would need to take emergency measures to prevent a default.

According to RBC, a fixed national debt ceiling, temporarily suspended earlier, will be reinstated on 2 January 2025.

Projections indicate that this limit will be exhausted by mid-January, forcing the government to rely on special accounting maneuvers to avoid default. However, as Gazeta.ru reports, these measures will only temporarily allow the government to meet its obligations.

Yellen emphasized that if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, the country faces the risk of default. Similar situations have arisen in the past and were resolved by either raising the debt limit or temporarily suspending it, enabling the government to continue borrowing.

According to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the current U.S. national debt stands at approximately US$36 trillion.

Additional data published by the Associated Press highlights that next year, debt servicing costs will exceed national security expenditures. This underscores the urgency of taking action to prevent economic fallout.

RBC also notes that a potential default could lead to a downgrade of the country's credit rating and destabilization of global financial markets.