Brazil federal debt up in February on net issue

* Federal public debt up 2.8 pct in February
* Net debt issuance totals 27.25 billion reais in February

BRASILIA, March 24 (Reuters) - Brazil's federal public debt rose in February as the government issued more debt than it redeemed and paid higher servicing costs, the national treasury said on Thursday.

The federal debt in marketable securities rose 2.82 percent over January to 1.59 trillion reais ($960 million), with net debt issuance at 27.25 billion reais and interest accumulated on the debt totaling 16.24 billion reais.

The share of fixed-rate bonds in February jumped to 34.72 percent of total issuances this year from 34.21 percent the month prior.

The share of inflation-linked bonds eased to 29.56 percent compared to 29.77 percent, while the proportion of securities indexed to the central bank's Selic lending rate BRCBMP=ECI rose to 35.99 percent from 35.79 percent the month prior.

Brazil's National Treasury aims to boost the share of fixed-rate bonds in its overall debt to reduce interest rate-related risk.

President Dilma Rousseff's government has pledged to lower Brazil's ratio of debt to gross domestic product by the end of her four-year term. Last month it announced a 50 billion reais cut to the 2011 budget, which it hopes will ease pressure on inflation and make way for lower borrowing costs.

The central bank earlier this month raised the Selic rate for the second time this year by 50 basis points to 11.75 percent.

($1=1.656 Brazilian reais)

(Reporting by Isabel Versiani; Writing by Raymond Colitt; Editing by Padraic Cassidy
Brazil federal debt up in February on net issue
Thu Mar 24, 2011 3:47pm EDT