Office of Management and Budget

Circular A-94 Appendix C

Revised November 2016

OMB Circular No. A-94

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DISCOUNT RATES FOR COST-EFFECTIVENESS, LEASE PURCHASE,
AND RELATED ANALYSES

Effective Dates. This appendix is updated annually.  This version of the appendix is valid for calendar year 2017.  A copy of the updated appendix can be obtained in electronic form through the OMB home page at http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/omb/circulars_a094/a94_appx-c/.  The text of the Circular is found at http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/omb/circulars_a094/, and a table of past years’ rates is located at http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/a94/dischist.pdf. Updates of the appendix are also available upon request from OMB’s Office of Economic Policy (202-395-3316).

Nominal Discount Rates. A forecast of nominal or market interest rates for calendar year 2017 based on the economic assumptions for the 2018 Budget is presented below. These nominal rates are to be used for discounting nominal flows, which are often encountered in lease-purchase analysis.

 

Nominal Interest Rates on Treasury Notes and Bonds
of Specified Maturities (in percent)

3-Year
   1.4		 5-Year
   1.7		 7-Year
   1.9		 10-Year
   2.1		 20-Year
    2.5		 30-Year
    2.8

Real Discount Rates. A forecast of real interest rates from which the inflation premium has been removed and based on the economic assumptions from the 2018 Budget is presented below. These real rates are to be used for discounting constant-dollar flows, as is often required in cost-effectiveness analysis.

Real Interest Rates on Treasury Notes and Bonds
of Specified Maturities (in percent)

3-Year
   -0.5		 5-Year
   -0.3		 7-Year
   0.0		 10-Year
    0.1		 20-Year
    0.5		 30-Year
    0.7

Analyses of programs with terms different from those presented above may use a linear interpolation. For example, a four-year project can be evaluated with a rate equal to the average of the three-year and five-year rates. Programs with durations longer than 30 years may use the 30-year interest rate.

Other Documents

Text of OMB Circular No. A-94 in HTML or PDF (22 pages, 78 kb)

Table of Past Years Discount Rates from Appendix C of OMB Circular No. A-94 (2 pages, 23 kb)

Memorandum, 2017 Discount Rates for OMB Circular No. A-94 (2 pages, 764 kb)

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