The accumulated debt of all the countries in the Paris Club, an informal organization of creditor countries, has risen by more than 10%, to nearly $350 billion, on a list of debtors led by Greece.
According to the annual list published this Thursday by this informal organization that brings together the main creditors of sovereign debt of other countries, Greece's debt at the end of last year was 62.1 billion dollars, the largest of the total of 349,558 million dollars.
After Greece, the largest debtor is India with $30.8 billion, Indonesia with $21.6 billion, Vietnam with $21.1 billion, and China with $15.1 billion.
The figures presented are dated December 31 of last year, and do not include the amounts that were suspended under the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), nor the interest that might eventually be charged on top of the announced amount, and show only the debt from country to country, leaving out debt issues in the financial markets.
Among the Lusophone countries mentioned in the report, Angola tops the list of the largest debtors, with a debt to the countries of this Club amounting to $1,553 million, closely followed by Mozambique, with $1,135 million in debt at the end of last year.
Further down the list are Cape Verde, with $251 million, Equatorial Guinea, with $81 million, Guinea-Bissau ($75 million), East Timor ($31 million), and São Tomé and Príncipe, with $18 million in debt.
The debt issue is particularly important for African countries, which in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic faced a reduction in revenue through reduced economic activity, and an increase in public expenditure due to rising spending on health and state support.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that African countries have financing needs equivalent to 450 billion dollars by 2025, and more international aid is needed, since the continent does not have the financial instruments that the more developed countries have made available to their economies.
The European Central Bank, for example, has provided 750 billion euros in stimulus to the region's economy, while the United States of America has approved an aid package worth 2 trillion dollars, the largest ever, which contrasts with the weak financial capacity of African countries.
The IMF will issue $650 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), which will then be distributed among members on a quota basis, giving $34 billion for Africa, of which $23 billion is reserved for sub-Saharan Africa.