US government pays $3 billion in interest every day from its national debt

A new estimate from a chief economist at an American multinational investment firm that primarily focuses on assets has shone a light on how much interest the US government is paying every day on the national debt.

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The estimate comes from Apollo Global Management's Torsten Sløk, a chief economist at the company, who wrote on the official blog for the asset management company the US government is now paying on average $3 billion a day in interest expenses, which includes weekends. The new post by the chief economist cites data from the US Treasury Department, and the $3 billion in interest every day is up from the $1.5 billion the US government was paying at the beginning of 2022.

Reports estimate that continuing at this pace, the US government will pay a staggering $1.157 trillion in interest for the full fiscal year 2024. According to the Treasury Department's own data, the national debt is expected to hit a new record of $35.346 trillion by September 9, and as of September 17th, it's currently $35.378 trillion. "If the Fed cuts interest rates by 1%-point and the entire yield curve declines by 1%-point, then daily interest expenses will decline from $3 billion per day to $2.5 billion per day," writes Sløk

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