U.S. Economic Sectors Borrowed Moderately in Q4 and for All of 2024
Summary
- Nonfinancial sectors together borrowed 11.4% of GDP in Q4.
- Not surprisingly, the largest borrowing sector was the federal government.
- Households had sizable amounts of home mortgage borrowing, though this was less than in Q3.
- Businesses paid down debt in Q4.
Yesterday, March 13, the Federal Reserve published the Financial Accounts for Q4 2024. They show, among numerous other things, that domestic nonfinancial participants in the U.S. economy had borrowings that represented 11.4% of GDP during Q4. This is down moderately from 12.3% in Q3 and produced an amount for the whole year of 2024 of 11.9% of GDP. The quarterly amounts cited here are at seasonally adjusted annual rates.
In Q4, the largest borrowing sector was the federal government, which used $2,602.9 billion, or 8.8% of GDP, up from $2,261 billion in Q3, or 7.7% of GDP. Households borrowed $624.3 billion or 2.1% of GDP; this amount included $294.3 billion of home mortgages and $133.1 billion of consumer credit.
Nonfinancial business corporations actually paid down debt of $64.1 billion in Q4, or 0.2% of GDP. In Q1 of 2024, businesses had borrowed $698.2 billion and for the whole year, they borrowed $436.6 billion or 1.5% of GDP. State and local governments paid down $46.0 billion in Q4; for the whole year they did use $97.8 billion or 0.3% of GDP.
In addition to domestic borrowers, the foreign sector borrowed $341.3 billion in Q4, or 1.1% of GDP and up from $196.7 billion in Q3. For all of 2024, foreign participants used $345.5 billion, or 1.2% of GDP.
The Financial Accounts data are in Haver's FFUNDS database. The Federal Reserve is the main source, while associated information is compiled in the Integrated Macroeconomic Accounts produced jointly with the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA); those nonfinancial data are carried in Haver's USNA database as well as in FFUNDS. Note that revisions are common throughout the accounts with every quarterly release.
Carol Stone, CBE
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Carol Stone, CBE came to Haver Analytics in 2003 following more than 35 years as a financial market economist at major Wall Street financial institutions, most especially Merrill Lynch and Nomura Securities. She has broad experience in analysis and forecasting of flow-of-funds accounts, the federal budget and Federal Reserve operations. At Nomura Securites, among other duties, she developed various indicator forecasting tools and edited a daily global publication produced in London and New York for readers in Tokyo. At Haver Analytics, Carol is a member of the Research Department, aiding database managers with research and documentation efforts, as well as posting commentary on select economic reports. In addition, she conducts Ways-of-the-World, a blog on economic issues for an Episcopal-Church-affiliated website, The Geranium Farm. During her career, Carol served as an officer of the Money Marketeers and the Downtown Economists Club. She has a PhD from NYU's Stern School of Business. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and has a weekend home on Long Island.
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