PTI 
 
WASHINGTON, Jan 7: US President-elect, Barack Obama, said that the country faces the prospect of having a trillion dollar budget deficit for years to come. 

Following a meeting with his team of economic advisors, Obama said his entire focus now is on to jump-start the economy, save or create three million jobs, mostly in private sector, and lay a solid foundation for future growth.

Obama said Peter Orszag, who would head the Office of Management and Budget, has forecasted the US would have a budget deficit of USD 1 trillion "even before we start the next budget."

"We're already looking at a trillion-dollar budget deficit or close to a trillion-dollar budget deficit, and that potentially we've got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on at this point," Obama said.

The President-elect said the reason he is saying this is that "we're going to have to stop talking about budget reform. We're going to have to totally embrace it". It's an absolute necessity, he argued.

It has to begin with the economic recovery and reinvestment plan that Congress will soon be considering, he said.

Obama said he would not expect the American people to support this critical effort unless his administration takes extraordinary steps to ensure that the investments are made wisely and managed well.