US Treasury Department paid nearly $89 billion (around ₹7.43 lakh crore) in interest to debt holders in March, which is equal to roughly $2 million (around ₹17 crore) per minute. This comes as benchmark interest rates jumped from 0% to over 5% within two years. Notably, it had paid $900 billion (around ₹75.15 lakh crore) in annual interest last year.