financial black hole

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a project, programme, or institution that absorbs unlimited amounts of money without producing commensurate value or reaching completion, as if the resources disappear into an infinite void from which nothing returns; the metaphor borrows from the astronomical phenomenon in which matter and energy are irretrievably consumed; financial black holes appear in descriptions of infrastructure mega-projects with chronic cost overruns, defence procurement programmes whose costs expand far beyond initial estimates, and struggling state-owned enterprises sustained by repeated government bailouts; the phrase implies waste, mismanagement, or structural dysfunction that makes the expenditure effectively bottomless, and is used to justify withdrawal of funding or fundamental reform