The lowest-income nations are spending far too much on servicing their unsustainable levels of debt, leaving them cash-strapped and unable to make the investments they need to break cycles of poverty, according to new World Bank data.
High debt servicing costs are also preventing governments from making climate investments that will help prevent worsening disasters such as droughts and floods.
The world’s poorest 28 nations, with a combined population of more than 700 million people, now spend, on average, about 11% of their total government expenditures just on debt interest payments — double what they spent a decade ago, the data show.
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About the author
Shabtai Gold
Shabtai Gold is a Senior Reporter based in Washington. He covers multilateral development banks, with a focus on the World Bank, along with trends in development finance. Prior to Devex, he worked for the German Press Agency, dpa, for more than a decade, with stints in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, before relocating to Washington to cover politics and business.
