Brazil's public debt rises due to higher net bond issuance, interest costs

SAO PAULO, March 26 (Reuters) - Brazil's public debt increased in February as higher interest costs and net bond issuance added to pressure on the Treasury, government data showed on Thursday.

Public debt rose 2.31% from January to 8.841 trillion reais ($1.69 trillion).

Net debt issuance totaled 125.75 billion reais, while interest payments reached 73.87 billion reais.

The average cost of domestic public debt issuance, measured on a rolling 12-month basis, remained unchanged at 13.76% in February.

So far this year, federal public debt has risen 2.38%, or 205.65 billion reais.

In Brazil, domestic public debt denominated in reais accounts for 96.27% of the total outstanding debt.

($1 = 5.2440 reais)