The future of public debt: prospects and implications


Via the Cobden Centre, a report from the Bank for International Settlements on public debt.

Since the start of the financial crisis, industrial country public debt levels have increased dramatically. And they are set to continue rising for the foreseeable future. A number of countries face the prospect of large and rising future costs related to the ageing of their populations. In this paper, we examine what current fiscal policy and expected future age- related spending imply for the path of debt/GDP ratios over the next several decades. Our projections of public debt ratios lead us to conclude that the path pursued by fiscal authorities in a number of industrial countries is unsustainable. Drastic measures are necessary to check the rapid growth of current and future liabilities of governments and reduce their adverse consequences for long-term growth and monetary stability.

The charts in the report speak for themselves. For example:

Click to enlarge

The projected impact on our debt servicing costs is staggering: by 2040, we would be paying over a quarter of GDP in interest. That would be grave news for everyone. It’s time for change.

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