Weekly Insight

The IIF Weekly Insight – sent out by email every Thursday evening Washington DC time – provides a concise perspective on key developments in global debt markets and ESG investing. It combines both global economic and capital market issues and notes important country and regional developments. If you would like to receive regular updates about this publication by email, please subscribe here.

Recent Editions

Debt

Weekly Insight: Neo-isolationism in sovereign debt markets?

February 20, 2025

At 63%, the median government debt/GDP ratio for mature markets is now over 6 percentage points lower than a decade ago. Japan, France, Australia, Canada and Finland saw the largest increases in debt ratios, while the most significant declines were seen in Ireland, Cyprus, Portugal, and Netherlands.

Prudential Regulation, Sustainable Finance

Weekly Insight: Open for Business: Reducing prudential regulatory barriers to blended finance

February 3, 2025

While well intentioned, certain prudential regulations can inadvertently curtail the degree to which multilateral development banks (MDBs) and development finance institutions (DFIs) can mobilize private capital for vulnerable low-income countries.

Debt

Weekly Insight: Are upper middle-income countries “maturing?”

January 30, 2025

Government debt across upper middle-income emerging market countries reached $3.6 trillion in 2024–up over 50% from $2.3 trillion in 2019, with external government debt accounting for around 30% of the total.

Debt, Debt Policy

Weekly Insight: Jubilee 2025: All Eyes on Sovereign Debt Markets

January 21, 2025

By 2028, global government debt is projected to hit $130 trillion—up over 35% from $95 trillion in 2024, with U.S. fiscal expansion and market issuance being the key driver.

Risk

Weekly Insight: Are we overestimating risk in emerging markets?

January 16, 2025

As South Africa’s G20 presidency gears up, mobilizing private investment for emerging and developing economies (EMDEs) has never been more critical—or more challenging, given U.S. exceptionalism, geopolitical tensions, and record debt levels.

Sustainable Finance

Weekly Insight: Catalyzing private capital for development finance

January 9, 2025

Despite MDB pledges to provide $120 billion annually for climate action by 2030, private capital mobilization multipliers remain low at 0.5x, meaning that for every dollar of MDB investment, just 50 cents in private capital is generated.