Washington: U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday morning signed a bill into law to end a disruptive 16-day government shutdown and increase the current debt ceiling of $16.7 trillion to prevent the country from a debt default with potentially worldwide economic repercussions.
Obama signed into law, the “Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014,” which provides fiscal year 2014 appropriations for projects and activities of the Federal Government through Wednesday, January 15, 2014, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement in the wee hours on Thursday.
“The effective time for the continuing resolution begins on October 1, 2013,” Carney said, adding that the law also extends the Nation's debt limit through February 7, 2014.
The signing of the bill came just in time to prevent an imminent default as the US would have exhausted its borrowing power by the end of Thursday.
“This is good news for developing countries and the world's poor. The global economy dodged a potential catastrophe,” said World Bank President Jim Young Kim, reflecting the sigh of relief that the international community now has after the passage of the bill by the Congress.
