The External Debts of the World's Countries in 2023

●      The hegemony of neoliberalism ...without militarization!

●      When you review statistics, surveys and reports on the International Monetary Fund IMF page, the World Bank, or the Institute of International Finance IIF, and follow academic and journalistic reports regarding the global debt crisis and the indebtedness of the world's countries—whether government, corporate, individual, or household debt—you find an accumulation of debt for most countries of the world, whether economies or emerging markets, developing countries, or even advanced countries..!

●      It appears that more than 50 countries are candidates to declare bankruptcy because of accumulated debts reaching levels that, in some cases, exceed the total value of these countries’ GDP by multiples, and that their debt service costs have risen due to steadily rising interest rates, in addition to the rise in the dollar against the national currencies of most debtor countries, and inflation that most countries have been unable to rein in even in advanced economies, as well as higher prices for basic commodities and energy—which one cause of which was the war between Russia and Ukraine—...in addition to the growth of national defense and armament expenditures by states in light of the geopolitical tensions surrounding much of the globe..!..and which neoliberalism sees as opportunities to invest and to dominate countries’ economies via investment funds and banks, and tools to create demand and the need for these countries’ external borrowing......which creates continuous pressure on their balance sheets. As stated in the Institute of International Finance’s quarterly 2023 report (first quarter of 2023), IIF (Global Debt Monitor ....all of that together makes it likely to affect the credit position of both governments and corporate borrowers..whose fire is ignited by neoliberalism in the United States, and some other capitalist countries. At a time when these advanced countries nevertheless suffer from high levels of indebtedness, led by the United States of America..in addition to collapses in financial systems and rescue operations that cost their budgets and treasuries vast sums, whose consequences have begun to buffet the political level in these countries..!

●      At the level of developing countries, there are cases in which the finances of some countries become confined to collecting taxes and levies only...after the productivity of their agricultural, industrial, and even tourism sectors dwindles, including some Arab countries and including Palestine...!!

●      To investigate the causes of such debts and their accumulation, we see that this or that state falls into a sustained fiscal deficit..it then resorts to a borrowing system from international financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and all its group and (الكرستا ) – the tools – under its umbrella..under conditions for financing intended projects...and among these conditions, removing subsidies on basic goods, restructuring social assistance, raising taxes, liberalizing markets, and preventing government public sector intervention in those states’ paths for their private sector ..and reducing the role of government and its interference in the operation of markets in its country..and the activity of the private sector..in addition to these conditions, there are conditions concerning the cultural environment of the debtor society, such as intervening in the culture of societies in those countries and their education systems, in addition to accompanying loan conditions to impose a course regarding the currencies of borrowing countries, and liberalizing their exchange rates, which confuses the economy and the country begins to atrophy economically.....!

●      Some countries obtain financing in loans with varying maturities at high interest rates..after the concerned governments sign guarantees..they have, including their wealth and resources..!.without having those agreements ratified by their parliaments, on these loan agreements with the aforementioned financing institutions. These countries begin to pay interest and installments...and some of them may initially succeed in doing so..but many countries cannot at certain times service their external debt, or pay its installments according to the agreed schedule..and these countries begin reducing expenditure on productive projects across all sectors inside them, in order to save money to pay interest and installments on these debts....and laws are enacted to rationalize payment of social assistance to low-income groups...and to raise or reduce subsidies on basic goods...thus the poor become poorer...and prices rise..and so debt and its interest accumulate, and these countries begin attempting to negotiate new loans, whether from the Fund or from other global financing sources...to restructure old loans..and so on..or to load such debts and their interest onto their peoples, and for that purpose they obtain financing from taxpayers by raising tax rates, or by domestic borrowing via government treasury bonds..and therefore external and internal debts accumulate..!

●      These statistics indicate, as stated in the Institute of International Finance "IIF" report at the end of the first quarter of 2023, that global debt accumulation grew by $8.3 trillion in the first quarter of 2023, to a record high close to $305 trillion..meaning that the world borrowed more than 3 times its economy..!

●      The amount of debt in emerging markets also recorded a new record, exceeding $100 trillion, and even in advanced markets, Japan, the United States, France and the United Kingdom recorded the largest increases in the first quarter of 2023..in addition to a series of collapses and rescue operations..

●      The IMF statistics reported in the debt list for 2023 as forecasted by the Fund's experts indicated that the global government debt stock at the end of 2022 amounted to approximately $95 trillion..noting thattotal country indebtedness includes, in addition to government debt, corporate debt, and individual and household debt,....the IMF's global debt statistic in May-2023 reached 352% of global GDP, meaning that the world borrowed more than 3 times its economy...bringing the total global debt to $305 trillion!!

●      Regarding the external debts related to the International Monetary Fund IMF, which has 190 member countries, the following data and statistics were listed concerning Arab countries borrowing from the IMF, as follows:

●      In (an article for Sputnik - Arabic) - Sputnik - dated 16-2-2023, about the Arab countries indebted to the International Monetary Fund:

●      First: Egypt is the first Arab country and the second globally on the list of most indebted countries to the International Monetary Fund, where its total debts to the international institution amount to $17.7 billion, and Egypt's rating was downgraded by Moody's to B3 instead of B2.

·       Second: Tunisia in second place among Arab countries after Egypt, with about $2.1 billion, which equals 8% of the total Arab loans from the International Monetary Fund.., and Tunisia's credit rating was downgraded from CAA1 to CAA2 with negative outlook..!

·       Third: Morocco indebted by $2 billion

·       Fourth: Jordan whose debts to the International Monetary Fund amounted to... $1.6 billion,

·       Fifth: Sudan whose debts to the International Monetary Fund amounted to $1.2 billion – and Sudan is facing economic collapse!

·       Attached below are tables appearing in IMF and Institute of International Finance statistics. They show the size of global debt up to the beginning of the first quarter of 2023:

●      Table No. (1)..Governments with the highest debts in the world this year 2022

●      Table No. (2) The Arab governments most indebted in 2022

●      A list showing the highest indebted countries in the 2023 debtor list, according to IMF page statistics IMF (according to an IMF working paper May-2023 by Daniel Garcia-Macia), and these data show the names of four Arab countries within the list that includes the countries with the highest debts in the world (the country's debt-to-GDP ratio)

·       Table No. (3) A list showing the highest external debts of debtor countries, number 12 - List for 2023 (debt-to-GDP ratio)

●      Below I include a table regarding the GDP of the Arab countries, starting from the largest and then descending to the smallest. The second part of the list shows the ranking of Arab countries by their debt-to-GDP ratio. The ranking begins with number 1... which is the most indebted.. and progresses to number 22, which is the least indebted in this list. (Number 18 appears, which is the State of Kuwait as the least indebted in the Arab world, (given that there are 4 Arab countries for which no information and data were listed as the list indicates - 18+4=22)....as follows:

●      Table No. (4)..List of debt-to-GDP ratios for Arab countries, List 2023-

●      As for the top 20 countries, their GDP in 2023 according to the surveys on the International Monetary Fund IMF page exceeds one trillion dollars (at current prices), as follows:

●      Table No. (5) List of countries (Top 20) whose total GDP exceeds at least one trillion dollars (at current prices)

·       As for the GDP of some countries, and their debt-to-GDP ratio for the first quarter of 2023, according to the IMF page, I include below data for some countries: