By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Global debt rose by around $7.5 trillion in the first three months of the year to hit a record high of over $324 trillion, data from a banking trade group showed on Tuesday.
The Institute of International Finance (IIF) said China, France, and Germany were the largest contributors to the global debt increase, while debt levels declined in Canada, the UAE, and Turkey.
“While the sharp depreciation of the U.S. dollar against major trading partners contributed to the increase in the USD value of debt, the Q1 rise was more than quadruple the average quarterly increase of $1.7 trillion observed since the end of 2022,” the IIF said in its Global Debt Monitor.
The global debt-to-output ratio continued to slowly crawl lower, standing just above 325%. However, in emerging markets the ratio hit a record high at 245%.
Total debt in emerging markets rose by over $3.5 trillion in the first quarter to a record high of more than $106 trillion. China alone accounted for over $2 trillion of the rise according to the IIF. China’s government debt to GDP is at 93% and expected to hit 100% before the end of the year.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, editing by Karin Strohecker)
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