A poster at a bus shelter shows the national debt in Washington, DC in an undated photo (AFP)

A UN report on Wednesday revealed that global public debt reached a record $92 trillion in 2022 as a result of overborrowing by governments to fight crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic - with developing nations feeling the brunt of it the most.

Both domestic and external debt worldwide increased more than five times in the last 20 years, which outstripped the rate of economic growth, showing that GDP only tripled since 2002, according to the report released ahead of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors' meeting from July 14-18.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that "markets may seem not be suffering – yet. But people are," adding, "Some of the poorest countries in the world are being forced into a choice between servicing their debt, or serving their people."

30% of the global public debt is owed by developing nations. 59 developing countries are facing a debt-to-GDP ratio above 60%, which indicates high levels of debt.

"Debt has been translating into a substantial burden for developing countries due to limited access to financing, rising borrowing costs, currency devaluations, and sluggish growth," the report added.

The UN argues that international financial systems made access to financing for developing countries both inadequate and expensive and continued to refer to net interest debt payments surpassing 10% of revenues for 50 emerging economies globally.

"In Africa, the amount spent on interest payments is higher than spending on either education or health," the report stated as it discovered 3.3 billion people living in nations spending more on debt interest payments than on health or education.

"Countries are facing the impossible choice of servicing their debt or serving their people."

A G20 objective

The report also demonstrates that private creditors, like bondholders and banks, represent 62% of the developing countries' total external public debt.

In Africa, creditor participation jumped from 30% in 2010 to 44% in 2021, and Latin America recorded the highest ratio of private creditors holding external government debt at 74%.

According to the UN, multilateral lenders should expand financing with strategies such as the temporary suspension of International Monetary Fund (IMF) surcharges, which are commissions charged to borrowers using its credit lines extensively, and increased financing for countries in debt distress.

"To address the slow progress of the G20 Common Framework," a debt solution mechanism is also needed as per the report's authors but no further details were given.

The debt treatment framework was adopted originally by the G20 major economies and official creditors back in October 2020 and aims to include members such as China in debt relief.

Last month, IMF Executive Director for Russia Aleksei Mozhin told Sputnik that high public debt has become a serious threat to the economies of countries around the world, including Western ones, due to years of irresponsible monetary policies and budget plans.