IMF Praised India for its Low Global Debt

India’s debt is lower than the best or emerging market economies in the world, a top IMF official has said as he cautioned that the global debt has reached a new record high of $182 trillion in 2017.

Vitor Gasper, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Director of Fiscal Affairs Department, said India’s debt was substantially less than the global debt as percentage of world Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In India, private debt in 2017 was 54.5 per cent of the  GDP and the general government debt was 70.4 per cent of the GDP, a total debt of about 125 of the GDP, according to the latest IMF figures. In comparison, debt of China was 247 per cent of the GDP.

“So, it (India’s debt) is substantially less than the global debt as percentage of world GDP,” Gasper said.

India’s debt is below the average of advanced economies and below the average of emerging market economies, he said.

“There is a positive relation between the debt to GDP ratio and the level of GDP per capita. If you compare around the world with the best economies or emerging market economies, the level of debt in India is lower,” the top IMF official said.