Global Public Debt and the Implications of Reaching the Brink in 2022

●      Date 13-10-2022

●      Global government debts....their pace is escalating..and they are accumulating alarmingly.....until they reached dangerous levels. IMF statistics for 2022 showed that these debts reached approximately 97 trillion dollars. This global debt represents about 94.4% of global Gross Domestic Product.., while total global debt including the debt of governments, individuals, companies, and households, amounted to more than 300 trillion dollars..and the total of this debt represents 300% of global Gross Domestic Product (according to the Institute of International Finance report in the second quarter of 2022).

●      The condition of debtor governments in the world is like a sick person whose body is ravaged by a pandemic..and who cannot move..., this state of these countries has been described as being caught in a "debt trap": and that "it is impossible to get out of this black hole"...! Low-income or middle-income countries borrowing to cover budget deficits is ongoing and escalating, and these countries soon find that those debts and their interest consume their revenues for subsequent years, causing a deficit, so the state is forced to borrow again to cover the deficit or to pay due interest.." And so indebtedness accumulates, without being able to get out of that terrifying حوامة.!

●      Studying IMF reports, statistics of international financial institutions, and government statistics worldwide on the debt data of advanced industrial countries...astonishes you...! Most of these countries rank among the largest debtors in the world, which raises concern and fear that such advanced countries will search the world for sources to repay their debts..so they begin intervening in the affairs of developing countries, fabricating conflicts and wars, and presenting reports through IMF and World Bank consultants...who act at the behest of this or that industrial country, before developing (poor) debtor countries, shackled by debts...but possessing natural resources on their lands, so these advanced countries...take control of the assets of these poor countries...through providing conditional advice and aid to reform the economic and administrative structure of these developing countries.., but the result is the plundering of these countries' wealth and mortgaging it in their favor......Some advanced countries may resort to stirring wars, whether internal wars, between states, military occupation, or imposing economic boycotts..and other types of sanctions..!.. under pretexts and labels, from a vocabulary that they themselves have filled with terms that help and market it before the world.. such as combating terrorism...!..and protecting human rights in developing countries...!..the colonial spirit flares up...in these powerful industrial countries..exploiting the poverty and indebtedness of developing countries and their internal situation, which they cause troubles for and influence internally in these countries, through non-governmental civic organizations they fund..under the label of assistance and capacity building for this or that developing country.......!

●      These indebtednesses, as IMF statistics, the World Bank and other reports will show you, have become dangerous to the sovereignty and economies of debtor countries...as these debts have risen and reached levels that approached or exceeded the danger threshold or debt benchmark, which was agreed to be set at 77% of total GDP, along with accompanying rises in inflation levels, and price increases, in addition to the rise in the value of the dollar currency relative to the equivalent of local currencies of debtor countries, as occurred in recent months.., due to continuous interest rate hikes, which exacerbated the position of debtor governments, since the rise in the dollar price imposed an additional burden on them, as it weakened their ability to service debts and pay due debts, given the decline in the value of their local currencies against the dollar..and events that worsened the economic situation of countries continued, for example the Corona pandemic two years ago, when countries spent huge sums, and some printed currency notes in staggering amounts reaching in one country (the United States) three trillion dollars..and injected it into the market in cash, without backing, to finance spending, in an attempt to mitigate the effects that accompanied this pandemic, such as factory closures, intermittent stoppages of production, restrictions on daily life, and on mobility and travel... , and the rise in the unemployment rate.!

●      The economy of any country is mortgaged to debt levels compared to its Gross Domestic Product..which gives an indicator of the likelihood of the state's ability to repay its debts..!

●      Crises followed one another these days: there is an energy crisis, a food crisis, the consequences of the war between Ukraine and Russia, and Western sanctions on Russia, adding one crisis to an already tense situation... CRISIS UPON CRISIS” “, and to give a coercive impetus to energy prices to rise and be speculated upon..which increased the budget deficits of debtor countries..which repeatedly sought to borrow to finance their budget deficits..and thus debts continue to accumulate for most countries of the world..until some debtors conspicuously, in recent times, which have buried riches beneath their soil..mortgage such resources to borrow to service their debts, pay dues, and finance government spending....whose returns are mortgaged to the creditors, where the debtor state pays some of its due debts from the returns due to it from its mortgaged and extracted resources by the creditor countries, or international companies...and this is the most dangerous type of borrowing..!

●      The increase in global indebtedness at this accelerating pace casts shadows of fear and anxiety about the return of rich countries' control over debtor countries..and the seizure of their resources, although there are relatively high-income countries whose indebtedness is headed toward dangerous paths..and this is the source of concern about the outbreak of wars..and the seizing of the assets of debtor countries, especially those governments with critical indebtedness (Debt Distress)   ا In ( , and IMF reports for 2022 indicate that there are more than 29 countries whose debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds 77% (the relative safety threshold), which is the dangerous threshold set by the IMF to classify countries' indebtedness as dangerous and critical...and consequently, the equation of dividing public debt by a country's GDP means "the administrative capacity of the state to meet payments without issuing debt instruments"...!

●      To review the most indebted countries in the world: there are two classifications of countries' indebtedness in the world, there is the size of the debt...and there is the value of the debt in comparison or what it represents as a percentage of each country's Gross Domestic Product..

●      Accordingly, I list below some government debts, based on IMF statistics for 2022, (Data mapper), which reported countries' debts as a percentage of each country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and it was strikingly noted that although Japan was the largest creditor to the United States, Japan is considered the most indebted country in the world by the size of its debt relative to its GDP..and the names of some of these countries are as follows:

1-    اJapan its debt-to-GDP ratio 262%, and the size of its indebtedness reached 9.455 trillion dollars, noting that Japan's population reached 127 million people..(Statistics 6-2022)...

2-    Greece: its debt-to-GDP ratio 188.4%, the size of its indebtedness reached 397 billion dollars, noting that Greece's population reached 10 million people..(Statistics 3-2022)...

3-    Portugal: its debt-to-GDP ratio 127%, and the size of its indebtedness reached 306.2 billion dollars (according to statistics 31-3-2022), noting that Portugal's population reached 10 million people...

4-    Italy: the size of its indebtedness reached 3.1 trillion dollars (according to statistics 7-2022), which represents 152.6% of its GDP (according to statistics 3-2022), and Italy's population reached 59 million people..

5-    Kingdom of Bhutan (located on the eastern flanks of the Himalayas between China and India.).! Its indebtedness reached 2.33 billion dollars, at a percentage of GDP 133.5%, and its population 771 thousand people.

6-    Cyprus: its indebtedness reached 21.64 billion dollars, at a percentage of its GDP of about 98% (Statistics 6-2022).

7-    Belgium: its debt amounted to 456 billion dollars..at a percentage of 107.9% (Statistics 3-2022)

8-    United States: the size of its indebtedness reached 31.8 trillion dollars, which represents 125.6% of its GDP...noting that the population of the United States reached 338 million people...

9-    Spain  : Its debt-to-GDP ratio is 177% (according to March 3-2022 statistics), and the size of its indebtedness reached $1.545 trillion (according to June 6-2022 statistics),.. noting that Spain's population reached 47   million people...

10-          Singapore : its debt amounted to about $711 billion (according to June 6-2022 statistics), and its indebtedness represents 176.2% of its gross domestic product... its population is 5.7 million people.

●      By contrast, the largest debt value in the world is the United States of America, which reached $31.4 trillion.. (International Monetary Fund statistics 2022)

●      Below we list the names of some of the countries that ranked highest in indebtedness in the world, in terms of the largest external debt in the world: (International Monetary Fund statistics July 7-2022)

1       United States: The size of its indebtedness reached $31.8 trillion.

2      China: The size of its indebtedness reached $15.5 trillion, noting that this indebtedness represents 54.44% of its gross domestic product... China’s population reached 1.415 billion people..

3      Japan: The size of its indebtedness reached $9.455 trillion..

4      France: The size of its indebtedness reached $3.536 trillion (according to International Monetary Fund statistics June 6-2022), which represents 113.3% of its gross domestic product; France's population reached 65 million people

5      Italy: The size of its indebtedness reached $3.1 trillion (according to July 7-2022 statistics).

6      India: The size of its indebtedness reached $1.785 trillion, which represents 56.3% of its gross domestic product; India's population reached 1.4 billion people..

7      Germany: The size of its indebtedness reached $2.754 trillion, which represents 67.2% of its gross domestic product (according to March 31-2022 statistics); Germany's population reached 83 million people

8      United Kingdom: The size of its indebtedness reached $2.7 trillion, which represents 97% of its gross domestic product (August 8-2022 statistics); the United Kingdom's population reached 68 million people..

9      Singapore: The size of its indebtedness reached $711 billion

●      As for Russia.... and contrary to most other heavily indebted countries... Russia is considered one of the least indebted countries in the world, where it ranked (number 9) in the list of the least indebted countries in the world...!, its indebtedness reached about $325.4 billion (according to August 8-2022 statistics), while what that indebtedness represented was 13.8% of its gross domestic product, according to International Monetary Fund statistics June 6-2022; it was indicated in confirmed reports that most of Russia's debt is classified as private debt rather than government..! ..Russia's population reached 144 million people.

●      Ukraine's indebtedness amounted to $86.5 billion (according to July 7-2022 statistics), and Ukraine's indebtedness, as reported in the December 31-2021 statistics, was $65 billion.. which represented 43.3% of its gross domestic product; Ukraine's population reached 44 million people.

●      Here I point to some of the countries whose indebtedness appeared in the International Monetary Fund's 2022 statistics as exceeding 100% of their gross domestic product (GDP), and which did not appear in the lists of the most indebted countries in the world above.. among them: Canada : its indebtedness ratio reached 101.8% compared to the size of its GDP, where the value of its indebtedness reached about $925 billion, Sri Lanka: its indebtedness-to-GDP ratio reached 109%, Greece: its indebtedness-to-GDP ratio reached 185%... and other countries...

-        As for our Arab world (whose indebtedness exceeded $1.5 trillion...) I list below the names of the top 10 most indebted Arab countries... it is noticeable that most Arab countries have reached levels of indebtedness that are dangerous to their economy and financial sovereignty, except for the State of Kuwait, which is considered one of the least indebted Arab countries, and in the world, and its indebtedness reached $1.2 billion, representing 3.2% of GDP..!

●      The most indebted Arab governments as of 1-7-2022 in descending order:

-        Egypt: $410 billion, Saudi Arabia: $251 billion, United Arab Emirates: $159 billion, Algeria: $110 billion, Iraq: $104 billion, Morocco: $103 billion, Lebanon: $100 billion, Sudan: $89 billion, Bahrain: $52 billion, and Sultanate of Oman: $48 billion.!

●      The eight countries that are in critical debt distress:   ) ( IN DEBT DISTRESS, as reported in the International Monetary Fund report, are:   Chad, Republic of the Congo, Grenada, Mozambique, Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Sao Tome & principe.!