21
Jul
Fitch Ratings has indicated it expects its portfolio of rated sovereigns to pay around $2.3 trillion in interest costs in 2023. This represents a steep rise in interest spending since 2020, with a greater increase of 47% in developed markets (DMs), compared with 40% in emerging markets (EMs). The trend reflects an end to the era of low inflation and, at least for DMs, a period of exceptionally low-interest rates. Aggregate annual government interest payments by Fitch-rated DM sovereigns were fairly steady at around $900 billion to $1 trillion over 2007-2021, even though their median level of government debt/Gross Domestic…