World Bank Released International Debt Report:
India’s total debt is around 81%, but most of it is domestic debt. India’s external debt is around 18.6% (around USD 624 billion at the end of March 2023), as per the RBI data.
- Public and publicly guaranteed (PPG) debt service payments by Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) reached over US$443 billion in 2022, posing a risk to their financial sustainability.
- Rising interest rates and unfavourable exchange rate movements could make servicing external debt burdensome.
- India’s debt service was 2% of the GNI in 2022.
- The debt servicing may crowd out spending on other development priorities.
- Due to a tighter monetary policy in advanced economies, there was a net outflow of over US$127 billion from LMICs as investors sought attractive returns in US and European bond
- The report recommends debt buybacks and exchanges, and exploring debt-for-nature swaps to combine debt relief with funding green projects.
IDR:
- Formerly known as International Debt Statistics (IDS), is an annual publication by the World Bank, now in its fiftieth year.
- It focuses on external debt statistics and analysis for 122 low- and middle-income countries participating in the World Bank Debt Reporting System.
