The Institute of International Finance report published on Wednesday revealed that the nominal value of global debt decreased by $4 trillion, thereby bringing it under the $300 trillion threshold that was reached in 2021. This is the first time since 2015 that the global economy’s debt has declined in dollar terms.
Developed countries accounted for the majority of the decline, with the total debt of wealthier nations falling by $6 trillion over the past year to $200 trillion. In contrast, developing world debt was on the rise, hitting a new record high of $98 trillion with India, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, and Vietnam leading the surge.
“The external public debt burden of many developing countries worsened due to sharp losses in local currencies (in 2022) against the dollar.” the Institute of International Finance observed. The global banking trade group added that the emerging market government debt-to-GDP ratio increased to 65% of GDP from just under 64% in 2021.
JP Morgan expressed a less optimistic outlook on the current global debt predicament. While the investment bank acknowledged the annual decline, it highlighted that the rise since the global financial crisis in 2008 has been “explosive”.