The gap between external debt repayments and new financing in developing countries widened to $741 billion between 2022 and 2024, the largest in at least 50 years, according to the World Bank.
Debt payments, which include principal and interest, have ballooned as average interest rates for these nations rose to the highest since just before the financial crisis of 2008-2009, the bank said in its latest International Debt Report released on Wednesday. Their external debt reached a record $8.9 trillion last year.