Large and growing global imbalances were a perennial topic in meetings of international policymakers for years prior to the crisis because they were seen as threat to the global economy. From 1996 to 2006, the U.S. current account deficit widened dramatically, from about 1–1/2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to 6 percent.
This widening primarily reflected a fall in domestic saving, as domestic expenditures became increasingly reliant on borrowing from abroad. 2 The counterpart to the rising U.S. deficit was a surge in the current account surpluses of other countries.