The world’s debt could exceed more than three times the size of the global economy.
An analysis by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) estimated that the world’s debt is hovering near a record at $244 trillion, exceeding more than three times the size of the global economy despite a stronger pace of economic growth.
With interest rates rising globally, the International Monetary Fund has warned governments to rein in soaring levels of debt and rebuild buffers against future risks.
According to Bloomberg, some of the key findings among the report by the Washington-based IIF released on Tuesday were:
- Total government debt exceeded $65 trillion in 2018, up from $37 trillion a decade ago, and rose faster in mature markets.
- Non-financial corporate debt rose to over $72 trillion last year, now near an all-time high of 92 percent of GDP.
- Household debt grew by over 30 percent to $46 trillion helped by strong growth in emerging markets, notably from China; though Czech Republic, India, Mexico, Korea, Malaysia and Chile all recorded more than 20 percent increases since 2016.
- Financial sector indebtedness rose to about $60 trillion, up 10 percent from a decade earlier.
With information from Bloomberg article by Chibuike Oguh and Alexandre Tanzi
