US debt has shot up $US238 billion ($A221.54 billion) to reach 100 per cent of gross domestic product after the government's debt ceiling was lifted, Treasury figures show.
Treasury borrowing jumped on Tuesday, the data showed, immediately after President Barack Obama signed into law an increase in the debt ceiling as the country's spending commitments reached a breaking point and it threatened to default on its debt.
The new borrowing took total public debt to $US14.58 trillion, over end-2010 GDP of $US14.53 trillion, and putting it in a league with highly indebted countries like Italy and Belgium.
Public debt subject to the official debt limit - a slightly tighter definition - was $US14.53 trillion as of the end of Tuesday, rising from the previous official cap of $US14.29 trillion a day earlier.
Treasury had used extraordinary measures to hold under the $US14.29 trillion cap since reaching it on May 16, while politicians battled over it and over addressing the country's bloating deficit.
The official limit was hiked $US400 billion on Tuesday and will be increased in stages over the next 18 months.
The last time US debt topped the size of its annual economy was in 1947 just after World War II.
By 1981 it had fallen to 32.5 per cent. Ratings agencies have warned the country to reduce its debt-to-GDP ratio quickly or facing losing its coveted AAA debt rating.
Moody's said on Tuesday that the government needed to stabilise the ratio at 73 per cent by 2015 "to ensure that the long-run fiscal trajectory remains compatible with a AAA rating".
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