January 28, 2019
By Gina Heeb
The longest partial US government shutdown (click here) on record that ended Friday cost the US economy billions of dollars as it kept a fourth of federal agencies shuttered for five weeks, the Congressional Budget Office said Monday.
About 800,000 workers were furloughed or forced to work without pay after the shutdown began December 22, leading to a delay in spending and weighing on private-sector activity. The nonpartisan office estimates that shaved about $3 billion, or 0.1%, from inflation-adjusted gross domestic product in the fourth quarter and $8 billion, or 0.2%, from that of the first quarter of 2019.
While the economy will eventually make up most real gross domestic product lost during the shutdown, according to the office, about $3 billion will never be recovered....
