The latest report of the Institute of International Finance showed that global debt rose to a record high of $ 281 trillion in 2020, as governments expand spending to counter the repercussions of the Corona pandemic.
According to the report - released on Friday - global debt increased by 24 trillion dollars to 281 trillion in 2020, from 257 trillion in 2019.
The Institute of International Finance said that with this increase, global debt is equivalent to 355% of global GDP by the end of 2020, an increase of 35 percentage points compared to the end of 2019.
This annual increase in the volume of global debt is times the increase during the global financial crisis that began in 2008, and resulted from the collapse of the mortgage market in the United States, and its impact spread to all parts of the world.
Global debt increased by 10% in 2008 and 15% in 2009.
Government debt
According to the new data, government debt increased to constitute 105% of GDP in 2020, compared to 88% in 2019.
The institute said that developed countries added 10.7 trillion dollars in government debt, in addition to 10 trillion for other countries outside the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Non-financial private sector debt increased to 165% of GDP in 2020, from 124% in 2019.
Since the World Health Organization declared the Coronavirus a global pandemic - in March 2020 - the world's governments have launched massive rescue packages, amounting to $ 13 trillion, of which more than 3 trillion are in the United States alone, most of which have been financed with debt.
This was accompanied by extremely easy monetary policies and historic cuts in interest rates by central banks around the world, including billions of dollars in programs to buy bonds issued by private companies to help them retain jobs.