LONDON (MNI) – There is no ‘plan B’, Congress will have to raise
the U.S. debt ceiling, and it will do so once this “period of political
theatre” is over, Mary John Miller, Assistant Secretary for Financial
Markets at the U.S. Treasury Department, told a meeting of sovereign
debt holders.
Addressing an audience at the Euromoney Global Borrowers and
Investors Forum in London, Miller said, “Will they raise it? Yes we
expect that they will.”
“There will be a certain amount of theatre over the summer,” she
continued, adding, “We appreciate that there are discussions about the
long-term fiscal plans, but short-term they must raise it.”
Miller also hinted that the U.S. Treasury will ramp up its issuance
of longer-dated maturities in the coming years, in an attempt to stretch
the average debt maturity.
“We have no explicit target,” she said. “I expect the average
maturity to continue to expand in coming years.” she said.
Returning to the issue of the federal debt ceiling, Miller said
that she thought that Democrats and Republicans would eventually work
together to avoid a fiscal crisis.
“We must find ways to return to living within our means,” she said.
“It is not whether we start to (put the) fiscal house in order, but how
we get there,” she continued. “For the first time in a long time, both
political parties are coming together to address this issue.”
“The leaders of both parties know that even if agreement is not
reached within the next few weeks, the debt limit must and will be
increased,” she said. “It will definitely be increased and the U.S. will
continue to meet its obligations as it has for the past 200 years.”
–London newsroom: 4420 7862 7492 —
[TOPICS: M$B$$$,M$$FI$,MFBBO$,M$$BE$]
