Barack Obama on Tuesday warned that this year’s budget deficit could break through a record $1,000bn – more than double last year’s shortfall – and remain above that level “for years to come”.

Pledging to bring a “long-overdue sense of responsibility and accountability to Washington”, the US president-elect said his pending fiscal stimulus plan, which itself could climb to $1,000bn (£688bn) from its current estimate of $775bn, would include measures to bring down the deficit after the US economy had recovered.