The successful conclusion of the Victory loan marked the end of war
borrowing and the beginning of the transition to postwar debt management.
Because of the success of the Victory loan, I am happy to report that the
Treasury will not need to borrow any new money from the public during the
remainder of the present fiscal year except through regular sales of
savings bonds and savings notes. Furthermore, a part of the large cash
balance now in the Treasury will be used for debt redemption so that the
public debt which now amounts to about 278 billion dollars will decrease by
several billion dollars during the next 18 months. The present statutory
debt limit of 300 billion dollars will provide an ample margin for all of
the public-debt transactions through the fiscal year 1947. The net effect
of the excess of expenditures and debt redemption on the Treasury cash
balance, as compared with selected previous years, is shown in the
following table:
EXCESS Of BUDGET EXPENDITURES, THE PUBLIC DEBT, AND THE TREASURY CASH
BALANCE IN SELECTED YEARS