G-20 leaders had one thing on their minds when they gathered in Toronto in June 2010: debt. Their response to the crisis over the preceding three years was effective in stabilizing markets, buttressing the global financial system, and supporting growth through coordinated fiscal stimulus. But these bold actions took their toll.
Increased spending, tax cuts, bank bailouts, and the impact of automatic stabilizers saw a sharp increase in debt and deficits. From 2007 to 2018, G-20 countries added $33 trillion to the global stock of debt. The weighted-average debt-to-GDP ratio of G-20 countries increased by more than 40 percent from 2007 to 2018 (Figure 1 gives the unweighted gross debt-to-GDP ratio for each G-20 economy). In Europe, …
Read the full article at: https://www.brookings.edu/research/can-coordination-in-the-g-20-help-countries-to-reduce-debt-and-deficits/