United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen underlined on Friday that the inability of Congress to reach a consensus on a debt ceiling could drive the US economy into a recession and trigger a worldwide financial crisis.
"It would certainly undermine the role of the dollar as a reserve currency that is used in transactions all over the world. And Americans – many people would lose their jobs and certainly their borrowing costs would rise," the Treasury secretary told CNN.
The debt ceiling reached the $31.4 trillion threshold the day before, forcing the Treasury department to take "extraordinary measures" by stopping investments in two government retirement funds.