Bloomberg: Eastern Europe's debt reached record high
Eastern Europe's debt has reached record levels, RIA Novosti reports with reference to Bloomberg
According to the source, the Eastern European governments took out a loan in the amount of almost $32m in 2023, which is three times more than in the same period last year. For the first time in ten years, Poland, Romania and Hungary are among the top-5 largest borrowers from developing countries in foreign markets: their lending amounted to $9bn, $6bn and $5bn, respectively. The publication adds that such a situation has become the result of tremendous material losses due to the costs of compensating military expenditures and the costs of staying refugees from Ukraine.
It is stated that the conflict in Ukraine has provoked significant changes in the bond market. In this connection, loans have become more expensive even for governments with a fairly high rating. At the same time, analysts of the news agency hypothesise that, in 2023 the budget deficit of Eastern Europe will grow to 4.3 percent of the region's GDP.
