President of the United Nations General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, on Monday disclosed that public debt in developing countries reached $31 trillion in 2024.
The diplomat lamented the increasing debt profile in her message at the opening of the 16th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva, Switzerland.
Baerbock observed many governments spend funds on servicing debts instead of being able to invest in their people by building schools or expanding healthcare facilities.
“They become trapped in a vicious cycle, unable to build their economies to stand on their own,” the former German foreign minister stated.
The UNGA president said even though the global economy is worth more than $100 trillion a year, one in two people have seen “little or no rise in their income for a generation.”
Baerbock also decried how breakthrough technologies, including artificial intelligence, remain concentrated in the hands of a few, stressing that prosperity built on inequality is unstable.
On the UNCTAD16 theme, “Driving economic transformation for equitable, inclusive and sustainable development”, she urged the conference to focus on diversification, sustainability, financing for development, and multilateralism.
Last week in Washington, D.C., Chair of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, expressed concern about high and rising sovereign debt.
Al-Jadaan, incumbent Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Finance, said advanced and emerging markets “are approaching debt levels that are concerning and require serious attention.”
