The World Bank said – today, Wednesday – that developing countries spent nearly half a trillion dollars on servicing their external debt in 2022, depleting their allocations for health, education, and combating climate change.
The bank stated in a report on international debt that debt service payments – including principal and interest – rose 5% from last year to an unprecedented level of $443.5 billion, amid the largest increase in interest rates around the world in 4 decades.
The World Bank indicated that payments could rise by 10% in 2023-2024.
The report stated that the 75 poorest countries were the most affected, as their external debt service payments reached a record level of about $89 billion in 2022, with expectations that they will rise by 40% in 2023-2024.
The report also stated that interest payments on these countries’ debts have doubled four times since 2012 to $23.6 billion.
In this context, the International Monetary Fund said in a statement on Wednesday that Somalia will receive relief from its debts amounting to $4.5 billion under an initiative to help the most indebted poor countries.
Data from the World Bank published in the middle of this year indicated that the value of the external debt of poor and middle-income countries rose to 8 trillion and 700 billion dollars, which is its highest level ever, while the size of global debt jumped to a record level of 226 trillion dollars.
