Help power Marketplace this winter when you support the show today. Donate Now!

World Bank: Record debt hurting developing countries

Dec 14, 2023
Low and middle-income nations spent $443.5 billion on principal and interest in 2022, says global lender. Many defaulted in recent years.
In the last three years, countries defaulted on their debt 18 times, according to the World Bank.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

World Bank convenes amid a shaky global economic backdrop

Chief David Malpass discusses the obstacles facing developing nations, including a scarcity of investment capital and loans from the rich world.
Outgoing World Bank President at an October news conference. He laments that "the investment rates into developing countries has turned downward."
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Rising debt is “sand in the wheels” to the world’s poorest countries

We explain why rising debt payments owed by low-income countries are a U.S.-China issue.
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (C)  during the opening ceremony of the Morodok Techo National Stadium, funded by China's grant aid under its Belt and Road Initiative.
Lon Jadina/AFP via Getty Images

Are current climate initiatives unfair to developing nations?

Nov 17, 2022
Rahul Tongia of the Brookings Institution argues that a swift, large-scale energy transition is unrealistic for poor countries, and unnecessary.
Participants arrive Thursday at the COP27 climate conference, where world leaders are discussing plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and minimize the impacts of  climate change.
Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images

How the war in Ukraine is affecting debt troubles for developing countries

Apr 25, 2022
Developing nations see worsening debt challenges due to the war in Ukraine.
Above, a fruit vendor waits for customers in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Higher import prices for foods are putting pressure on the currencies of developing countries, including Sri Lanka.
Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP via Getty Images

Global food prices reach all-time high

Apr 8, 2022
The United Nations’ index of global food prices rose 12.6% in March, increasing the risk of hunger in the developing world.
In Egypt, the government subsidized bread so much that it costs consumers less than the value of the grain it's made with, leading to waste.
Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images

BioNTech to ship mobile vaccine factories to developing countries

Feb 17, 2022
The aim: Making access to the company's COVID vaccine more equitable.
BioNTech says it's first set of modular vaccine kits will be heading to Africa later this year.
Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Global economic growth likely to slow in 2022, World Bank says

Jan 12, 2022
Inequalities between and within countries could widen in 2022, World Bank President David Malpass warns.
"Vaccines are critical because they reduce the hospitalization, because they allow economies to function," says David Malpass, president of the World Bank.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Uneven vaccination rates may worsen global inequality

Zanny Minton Beddoes of the Economist says a lack of virus protection could hinder many nations’ economic recoveries.
Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images

Is the global economy facing a "Bretton Woods" moment?

Jun 10, 2021
One think tank CEO says the G-7 summit is a moment to envision an economic restructuring similar in scale to that of post-WWII.
President Joe Biden (center) and first lady Jill Biden (left) arrive in Cornwall for the G-7 summit.
Phil Noble - WPA Pool/Getty Images