KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 21): The cost of servicing Malaysia's federal government debt is estimated to rise to RM28.87 billion in 2017 or 13.1% of projected government revenue and 13.4% of operating expenditure next year.

Debt service charges which "must be served before all other commitments" are up from RM26.64 billion in 2016 and RM24.3 billion in 2015. Year 2016's debt service charges "remain manageable at 12.9% of total operating expenditure", the Finance Ministry's 2016/2017 Economic Report read.

It is worth noting that debt service charges have been above 10% of government revenue since 2014, and exceeds the RM28.2 billion personal income tax collection and 75% of RM38.5 billion goods and services tax collection expected for 2016.

The RM28.87 billion projection for next year also means the government needs to spend RM2.4 billion a month, RM555 million a week or RM79 million a day to service its debt in 2017.

Federal government debt stood at RM655.75 billion (53.2% of gross domestic product) as at end-June 2016, excluding RM178 billion debt guaranteed by the government as at the first quarter of 2016.

Domestic debt continues to account for the largest share of total debt at 95.9%, with the rest being offshore borrowings.