World drowning in debt

ACCORDING to the Institute of International Finance (IIF), total global debt – which includes household, non-financial corporates and government as well as financial sector debt – surged to a new record high of US$315.1 trillion at the end of the first quarter (1Q) of 2024.

This translates to a debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio of 333%. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, this was the first increase in the global debt-to-GDP ratio, after three consecutive quarters of decline.