3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more on debt interest than education, UN says

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Some 3.3 billion people – almost half of humanity – now live in countries that spend more money paying interest on their debts than on education or health, according to a new United Nations report released Wednesday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a press conference launching the report that because this “crushing debt crisis” is concentrated mostly in poor developing countries, it is “not judged to pose a systemic risk to the global financial system.”

“This is a mirage,” the UN chief warned.

“3.3 billion people is more than a systemic risk, it is a systemic failure.”

Guterres said financial markets may seem not to be suffering yet — but billions of people are and the levels of public debt “are staggering and surging.”

“In 2022, global public debt reached a record $92 trillion and developing countries shoulder a disproportionate amount,” he said.

According to the report, the number of countries facing high debt levels has increased sharply from 22 nations in 2011 to 59 in 2022.

The secretary-general said a growing share of debt is held by private creditors who charge sky-high interest rates to developing countries. As an example, he cited African countries that on average pay four times more for borrowing than the United States and eight times more than the wealthiest European countries.

The debt crisis is leaving governments with no money to invest in lagging UN development goals for 2030 that include ending extreme poverty; ensuring that every child has a good-quality primary and secondary school education, and to invest in transitioning to renewable energy, he said.

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