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With the global economy growing more slowly than expected, worries about a potential US government shutdown and the possibility of a default are keeping nations around the world and investors, cautious. Republicans in the US House of Representatives have so far refused to give in to President Barack Obama's demands for straightforward bills keeping the government running beyond September 30. House Republicans also challenged Obama on the debt ceiling increase, the amount the government is allowed to borrow; that the Treasury Department of the world's largest economy says is urgently needed by October 17. There is an October 1 deadline for Congress and the President to sign off on an emergency spending bill to avert a government shutdown. This is not the critical event that immediately leads to the risk of impending default - that comes on October 17 according to US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew - but it is significant enough that it can undermine investor confidence and further stymie an economic recovery. Last week Lew cautioned Congress that the United States would exhaust its borrowing capacity no later than October 17, at which point it would have only about $30bn in cash on hand. The fresh estimate adds another layer of pressure on lawmakers to raise the $16.7tn debt limit and comes as Congress struggles to pass a spending bill to keep the government funded beyond October 1, when the new fiscal year starts. "If the government should ultimately become unable to pay all of its bills, the results could be catastrophic," Lew warned in a letter to congressional leaders. The fate of the debt ceiling is up in the air with Democratic and Republican lawmakers once again deeply divided over how to extend the Treasury's borrowing authority. The trouble lies in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives push for a bill that includes a delay or complete halt to the Affordable Care Act (nicknamed "Obamacare") legislation passed in 2010 and set