Developing countries are facing the worst debt crisis in history with almost half their budgets being spent on paying back their creditors, a study has found.
The report, by the campaign group Debt Relief International for Norwegian Church Aid, says more than 100 countries are struggling to service their debts, resulting in them cutting back on investment in health, education, social protection and climate change measures.
Debt service is absorbing 41.5% of budget revenues, 41.6% of spending, and 8.4% of GDP on average across 144 developing countries, according to the study.
It said that without urgent action problems would persist into the 2030s, and that pressures were greater than during both the Latin American debt crisis of 1982 and…
