Government shutdown could cost US economy billions of dollars a week, analysts say

The last government shutdown, which lasted 35 days, was estimated to have cost at least $11bn to the US economy. Photograph: Mariam Zuhaib/AP

Senior officials inside Donald Trump’s administration have acknowledged the federal government shutdown, without an end in sight, could hurt the US economy. The damage could be worth billions of dollars each week, according to analysts.

“This isn’t the way to have a discussion, shutting down the government and lowering the GDP,” Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, told the CNBC financial news network. “We could see a hit to the GDP, a hit to growth and a hit to working America.”