The US debt ceiling dialogue between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy remained inconclusive, and an agreement looked elusive at the time of writing of this column. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the US government will be unable to pay its bills from June 1. Although the debt ceiling is a self-imposed restriction on how much the US government can borrow — the ceiling currently is about $31.4 trillion — the possibility of missing the deadline to increase the limit could inflict serious economic costs, not only for the US but also the world. The US economy is anyway slowing and uncertainty over the government’s ability to spend, or a significant reduction in spending over the medium term as a compromise to lift the ceiling, will affect output.