The size of the U.S. Treasury's general account has risen to about US$1 trillion, a new high since April 2021

On May 3, according to The KobeissiLetter, the U.S. government's cash balance continued to climb: the size of the U.S. Treasury Department's General Account (TGA) had risen to approximately US$1 trillion, the highest since April 2021. The TGA is the main checking account opened by the U.S. government with the Federal Reserve to deposit and allocate federal fiscal funds. In the past three weeks, the TGA balance has increased by $300 billion. The surge in balance was mainly driven by the spring tax season, when U.S. residents and businesses concentrated on paying annual taxes in the weeks leading up to April 15. Affected by this, the U.S. Treasury Department's issuance of short-term treasury bonds last week shrank by US$35 billion compared with the same period in March, temporarily causing the total U.S. federal debt to fall below US$39 trillion. However, as the flow of fiscal funds into the TGA slows down in the coming weeks, the issuance of short-term government bonds will increase again. The expansion of U.S. debt may accelerate again.