Brazil’s Treasury projected that debt linked to the Selic rate, the country’s benchmark interest rate, could account for a record 53% of outstanding federal debt this year. Its revised annual financing plan raised the forecast for floating-rate debt to 49%-53%, from 46%-50% previously, after the share reached 51.1% in July. The central bank began easing policy in March, but the Selic rate remains at 14%, while 12-month inflation was 4.2% in mid-August, leaving Brazil with one of the highest real interest rates among major economies. The Treasury said market volatility and elevated rates have increased demand for shorter-duration instruments, while weak appetite for inflation-linked securities led it to rely more heavily on floating-rate bonds despite real yields above 7% on very long-dated debt. It lowered its forecasts for inflation-linked and fixed-rate debt, while leaving foreign-exchange-linked debt unchanged. The shift comes as gross public debt reached 81.9% of GDP, more than 10 percentage points higher since President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office. Federal debt rose 0.22% in July to 9.289 trillion reais ($1.8 trillion).