Economics

Global Debt Costs Are Soaring. Here’s Where It Will Hurt Most

With borrowing becoming pricier, risks abound for overleveraged consumers, companies and countries.

Photo: Alamy
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

The world is emerging from the cheap-money era with a mountain of debt that’s now getting painfully expensive.

All around the globe, there are borrowers deeper in the red than ever before. The total owed by households, businesses and governments stands at $290 trillion, up by more than one-third from a decade ago, according to research by the Institute of International Finance.