World's $281 trillion debt pile set to rise again in 2021, says IIF

In emerging markets, South Africa and India had the biggest increases in government debt ratios last year

The world has never been more indebted after a year of battling Covid-19. And there’s even more borrowing ahead.
 

Governments, companies and households raised $24 trillion last year to offset the pandemic’s economic toll, bringing the global debt total to an all-time high of $281 trillion by the end of 2020, or more than 355 per cent of global GDP, according to the Institute of International Finance. They may have little choice but to keep borrowing in 2021, said Washington-based director of sustainability research Emre Tiftik and economist Khadija Mahmood.

Even as vaccines are rolled out, low central bank policy