Some $4.8 trillion was added to the global debt mountain in Q2 2021, bringing it to an all-time high of $296 trillion. Better news: the global debt/GDP ratio declined significantly in Q2 2021, though this follows a large spike in 2020.

Total global debt fell by $1.7 trillion to $289 trillion ($221 trillion ex-financials) in Q1 2021–nearly all in mature markets

Total debt in frontier markets (FM) reached a record high of nearly 110% of GDP in 2020, up from less than 100% in 2019. We have added 15 new countries to our FM debt database.

Pandemic response helped add $24 trillion to the global debt mountain in 2020, bringing it to a new high of $281 trillion.

We have added new enhancements to our debt tracking framework for mature markets, improving the comparability of our debt estimates—especially during periods of large swings in GDP, as has been the case during the COVID-19 pandemic; Using this method, global debt is estimated to reach nearly $275 trillion in Q3 2020—some $2.5 trillion higher than our previous estimate

Global debt has surged by over $15 trillion since 2019, hitting a new record of over $272 trillion in Q3 2020. As the fiscal response to the pandemic continues, we expect global debt to hit $277 trillion (365% of GDP) by end-2020

DSSI-eligible SSA countries have not tapped capital markets during the pandemic. However, roughly half of these countries have continued to attract net banking inflows. Large revenue losses have brought the government debt-to-revenue ratio to a staggering 480% in 2020.

COVID-19 highlights the need for structural reform in emerging market sovereign debt financing—and makes it more urgent. High, procyclical funding costs—coupled with lower trend growth—make it difficult to find fiscal space to support sustainable recovery.  Failure to deal with this challenge today could result in much higher future costs for the global economy.

Total frontier market debt hit a new record of over 120% of GDP in Q2 2020, up 6 percentage points from end-2019. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a spotlight on rising global debt levels and sovereign debt vulnerabilities.