The Treasury Department says that the government borrowed a record $488 billion in the January-March quarter, but it expects borrowing needs will decline sharply for the current April-June quarter.

Treasury says that actual borrowing in the first quarter exceeded the old record of $483 billion set in the first quarter of 2010, a period when the country was struggling to pull out of a deep recession and prop up the financial system following the 2008 financial crisis.

For the current quarter, Treasury announces it expects it will only need to borrow $75 billion but that the borrowing needs will rise again in the July-September quarter to $273 billion. Treasury is facing the need to finance government operations at a time when annual deficits are heading to record levels.