LOMNODN (Bloomberg) - The U.S.’ interest payments on its national debt are estimated to have increased to more than $1 trillion on an annualized basis as of the end of October.
The calculations were based on the U.S. Treasury data, which discloses the government’s monthly outstanding debt balances and the average sum of interest it pays.
The annualized cost of debt has doubled in the previous 19 months as rising interest rates have made borrowing more expensive and represented 15.9% of the entire federal budget for fiscal year 2022 as of last month, the outlet said.
“This high proportion of interest payments as a share of federal spending has precedent, as the portion before 2000 was over 14% in most years,” the report added.
“The challenge for the government is tempering compulsory spending and trying to reduce the need to issue more debt. That’s the reason we see interest payments climbing even though we forecast lower Treasury yields.”
Concerns are escalating over the U.S. fiscal policy amid massive government borrowing and soaring interest payments on the debt pile, the outlet noted, adding that the worsening dynamics already led Fitch Ratings Agency to downgrade U.S. government debt in August.