The world is at least $10tn in debt, so why can we still borrow so easily?

The OECD is alarmed at how much states and firms owe. UK chancellor Rishi Sunak would be wise not to be reckless in the budget

In 2010, in the wake of the global banking crisis, 34 of the world's richest nations - those that belong to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) - ramped up their borrowing to $10.9 trillion. In 2019, the OECD revealed last week, those same governments took their borrowing to a fresh high of $11.4tn.

The Paris-based thinktank says the new figure is a cause for worry, especially when those same governments have only managed to grow their national economies at a snail's pace over the past 10 years. Without strong growth, debts become a bigger burden on government finances when things turn nasty, as they did 10 years ago.

Greece, once the pariah of the bond markets and forced to borrow at 40%, can now borrow at 1% less than the US government