Treasury releases fiscal year 2026 figures

President Donald Trump speaks at a dinner at Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday (local time). [AP]
President Donald Trump speaks at a dinner at Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday (local time). [AP]

The US federal government's debt-servicing burden has exceeded $1 trillion this year.

According to the Treasury Department, net interest costs for fiscal year 2026 (October 2025–September 2026) reached $1.05 trillion, an increase of 8.2 percent, or $80 billion, from the $970 billion recorded in fiscal year 2025.

That figure far outpaces defense spending, which rose 6 percent to $917 billion.

The surge in net interest costs stems from a combination of higher debt levels and rising interest rates.

Interest-bearing debt stood at $32 trillion, about $10 trillion more than five years ago, Bloomberg reported. The average interest rate the federal government paid on marketable government bonds this year was 3.52 percent, more than double the 1.47 percent of five years ago.

The federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2026 widened to $1.99 trillion from $1.78 trillion in the prior fiscal year. Reuters reported that this marks the largest deficit since fiscal year 2021, when the figure hit $2.77 trillion amid the COVID-19 pandemic, making it the third-largest on record.

A Treasury official estimated the fiscal year 2026 deficit at 6.2 percent of GDP, Reuters reported, up from 5.8 percent the previous fiscal year.


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com