WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. economy was shaved off at least 6 billion U.S. dollars by the record long government shutdown, S&P Global Ratings said Friday.
The figure is even higher than the 5.7 billion dollars President Donald Trump has demanded to fund his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall, the sticking point leading to the shutdown.
S&P Global Ratings' latest estimate is in line with its projection two weeks ago.
The 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government has temporarily ended after Trump signed a bill on Friday to allow the government to repoen for the moment. The bill, which funds the government until Feb. 15 and gives the parties more time to work out a deal, had cleared the Senate and the House earlier.
The lengthy shutdown, however, is already the most expensive one in U.S. history, said USA Today, which listed shutdown costs including lost productivity from furloughed workers, loss of tax revenue, among others.
J.P. Morgan Asset & Wealth Management Chief Executive Mary Callahan Erdoes said Thursday that the shutdown is causing a weekly loss of about 1.5 billion dollars in U.S. gross domestic product.
J.P. Morgan economists on Thursday slashed the estimate for the first quarter growth from 2 percent to 1.75 percent due to the shutdown. They expect a rebound after the government reopens.
The preliminary reading of the index of consumer sentiment in January plunged to 90.7 from 98.3 in the previous month, the lowest since October 2016, based on results of a survey published last week by University of Michigan. The sharp decline could signal weaker consumer spending and economic growth in the months ahead.
