Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Tuesday warned that spiking the government to raise debt limit soon was the "wrong tool" for fostering sustainable fiscal adjustment and risked serious economic consequences.

The world's largest economy has hit the 14.29-trillion-U.S.- dollar legal ceiling on borrowings and the U.S. Treasury is taking extraordinary measures to buy some time prior to Aug. 2 for Democrats and Republicans to reach a deal and ward off the default risk.

As the deadline nears and four months after the Obama administration released its 2012 fiscal year budget blueprint, however, a deal on raising the U.S. borrowing cap and the budget plan is still a long shot with the partisan budget fight heating up.

Despite some Congressmen's willingness to push the debt ceiling issue to the cliff edge, a bipartisan compromise on reaching a deal should be made as soon as possible to shore up investors' confidence, some analysts say.

Bernanke and other economists have cautioned that failing to raise the debt ceiling promptly would be "self-defeating" even if the objective of the ongoing budget tug-of-war is to chart a course toward a better fiscal situation for the country.

On the other hand, however, rising federal debt would crowd out private capital investment, reduce productivity growth, and impair the ability of policy makers to respond effectively to future economic shocks and other adverse events, Bernanke told a gathering of policy makers and economists Tuesday.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet