IMF: global debt exceeds pre-pandemic levels despite fall in 2021

On Monday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released data showing that after peaking as a result of the spread of the coronavirus infection, the fall in global public and private debt in 2021 was the largest in the last 70 years. However, current debt is substantially higher than it was before the pandemic.

According to the IMF, in 2021, the level of total public and private debt decreased by 10% compared to the previous year and amounted to 247% of global gross domestic product (GDP). The record value in 2020 was 257% of GDP. Before the global crisis, in 2007, the reading was at 195% of GDP.

Global debt continued to show growth in dollar terms, but at a slower pace. Last year, a record high of $235 trillion was reached.

Taking into account the growth of nominal GDP, debt ratios in most countries will continue to decline in 2022. 

According to Vitor Gaspar, a director of the IMF's fiscal affairs department, with an impending recession in several countries and rising debt-servicing costs, debt ratios will become more stable in 2023.