Washington, Nov 5 (IANS): The US treasury department Monday announced that the federal government would borrow $531 billion from the market to fund its operation in six months starting Oct 1, an official statement said.

During the October-December quarter of this year, the department expected to issue $266 billion in net marketable debt, assuming an end-of-December cash balance of 140 billion dollars, Xinhua reported.

It is also expected to issue $265 billion in net marketable debt in the first three months of next year, assuming an end-of-March cash balance of $45 billion, the department said in a statement.

The US federal government budget deficit fell to $680 billion for the 2013 fiscal year ending Sep 30, a drop of $409 billion from the previous fiscal year. It is the first time since the 2008 fiscal year that the annual budget shortfall has fallen below $1 trillion, according to a separate report of the department.