US Americans reduced their household debt for the first year on record last year as they aggressively cut back on spending to cope with the recession, Federal Reserve figures showed on Thursday.
US household debt contracted by 1.75 per cent in 2009, according to the closely watched “flow of funds” data. It was the first annual decline since the Fed began tracking household borrowing in 1946 and marks a sharp shift from the euphoric borrowing that led to the recession.
