New Delhi, 15 November (Agency)Credit rating agency Moody’s on Tuesday gave a ‘negative outlook’ on the creditworthiness of countries globally for 2023. It said rising food and energy prices would stifle economic growth and exacerbate social tensions. According to the rating agency, some of the debt burden will increase due to tight financial conditions and damage from economic shocks and will not be at a manageable level. Also, the increase in loan cost will affect the ability to bear the loan.
According to Moody’s, 13 countries, including India, will have to spend more than 20 percent of their government revenue next year to pay off debt. It said that there would be a growing confusion between debt repayment to lenders on the one hand and meeting the aspirations of the population regarding social and economic development on the other. Moody’s said, ‘Our outlook on government credit for the year 2023 is negative. Although inflation will begin to decline, food and energy prices will remain high. This will affect economic growth and increase social tension. Global GDP (gross domestic product) growth is projected to slow to 1.7 percent in 2023, rising to three percent in 2022.
According to Moody’s, the performance of Asia will be better than other regions. Large Asian countries such as India will grow at over 4.5 per cent as domestic consumption, investment and tourism return to normal. The rating agency had last week said in the Global Macro Economic Outlook for 2023-24 that global growth will slow down in 2023 and may remain sluggish in 2024 as well.
