Diario Libre reports that the government has had to pay RD$513.8 million in interest fees and capital payments on loans with the local banking institutions. The amount is 48% more than the amount paid by the government in the first quarter of 2002, when it remitted RD$167 million. The debt of the government with local banks reportedly stood at nearly RD$12.5 million in March, which is 79.3%more than the accumulated debt it left in December 2000.