$7.6 Trillion of Debt Issued by the World’s Largest Economies Will Mature This Year

2012: Developed Countries Hit With Rise In Interest Payments on National Debt

January 3, 2011

Guardian - Here’s an alarming statistic – $7.6 trillion of debt issued by the world’s largest economies will mature this year, putting a major strain on the financial markets.

Country:	2012 Bond/Bill Redemptions($)	Coupon Payments
Japan	3,000 billion	117 billion
US	3,000 billion	212 billion
Italy	428 billion	72 billion
France	367 billion	54 billion
Germany	285 billion	45 billion
Canada	221 billion	14 billion
Brazil	169 billion	31 billion
UK	165 billion	67 billion
China	121 billion	41 billion
India	57 billion	39 billion
Russia	13 billion	9 billion

Bloomberg has crunched the numbers and worked out the amount of debt that the G7 nations plus Brazil, Russia, India and China must refinance in the next 12 months. It’s an increase on the $7.4 trillion that matured during 2011.

As Bloomberg points out, many of these countries face higher borrowing costs than a year ago – making it more expensive to roll the debt over (by issuing new securities to pay off debt as they mature).

The table shows which countries owe the most (redemptions = total debt that matures in 2012; coupon payments = interest payments on the national debt).