The world’s poorest countries face three years of soaring debt service costs, draining vital resources from spending on health, education and social assistance and leaving dozens of countries with unsustainable debts, the World Bank has warned.
A group of 69 low- and middle-income countries will make payments of $62bn on public debt this year, a 35 per cent increase from 2021, according to the bank’s annual data published on Tuesday.
Payments for 2023 and 2024 will remain elevated, the World Bank warned, due to high interest rates, a large number of bond maturities, and because countries have had to start making up for debt service that was deferred during the pandemic.