The coronavirus crisis pushed global debt levels to a new high of more than US$272 trillion in the third quarter, the Institute for International Finance said, as it warned of the “attack of the debt tsunami.”
The institute said global debt would break new records in the coming months to reach US$277 trillion by the end of the year. This would represent a debt-to-GDP ratio of 365 percent, CNBC reports.
It comes after governments across the world stepped up support for companies and citizens in the face of a global pandemic which led to widespread stay-at-home orders. Businesses also had to look for alternative funding as activity came to a halt in the wake of coronavirus. Both events translated into higher borrowing and, therefore, more indebtedness.
“Spurred by a sharp rise in government and corporate borrowing as the coronavirus pandemic wears on, the global debt load increased by US$15 trillion in the first three quarters of 2020 and now stands above US$272 trillion,” the IIF said in its latest Global Debt Monitor, out on Wednesday.
Among advanced nations, debt surged above 432 percent of GDP in the third quarter — a 50 percentage points increase from 2019. The United States, which has implemented one of the biggest stimulus packages in the world, accounted for almost half of this rise.
In the euro zone, government action led to an increase of US$1.5 trillion in public debt over the same period, to reach US$53 trillion. This is still below the region’s all-time of US$55 trillion seen in the second quarter of 2014, when the region was dealing with the sovereign debt crisis.
In emerging markets, debt levels grew to over 248 percent of GDP, with Lebanon, China, Malaysia and Turkey experiencing the biggest rises in non-financial-sector debt.
However, the coronavirus pandemic is not the sole factor to blame for the massive level of global debt.
“The pace of global debt accumulation has been unprecedented since 2016, increasing by over US$52 trillion,” the IIF said.
“While some US$15 trillion of this surge has been recorded in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the debt build-up over the past four years has far outstripped the US$6 trillion rise over the previous four years.”
Larger debt levels put governments, companies and households at a higher risk during economic downturns as they are required to service that debt.
