U.S. anti-inflation action feared to trigger debt crisis: The Guardian

LONDON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Worries have mounted that an expected interest rate hike from the U.S. Federal Reserve to fight inflation would further deal a blow to poor countries at a time when their repayments to creditors are running at highest level in two decades, The Guardian has reported.

Payments to creditors already accounted for 14.3 percent of poor-country government revenue in 2021, up from 6.8 percent in 2010 and the highest level since 2001, the British daily reported Sunday, citing data from the Jubilee Debt Campaign, a British charity.

"Many poor countries have borrowed in U.S. dollars, exposing them to the dual risk of higher borrowing costs and a weakening of their currencies against the greenback," it said.

"The debt crisis has already stripped countries of the resources needed to tackle the climate emergency and the continued disruption from covid, while rising interest rates threaten to sink countries in even more debt," Heidi Chow, executive director of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, was quoted as saying.