LAST week I listed the nations with the largest debt loads, measured as a percentage of borrowings in relation to a country’s GDP.
It has worried me for some time that there doesn’t appear to be the political will for short term governments to reduce the long-term debt of their nation.
It seems they prefer to kick that can down the road for future administrations to handle the issue.
Australia’s debt equates to 50.9 percent of its GDP.
From this level of debt, it is manageable to handle the issue.
I doubt however if we have the ability or willpower to be able to reach the Peter Costelloe high point when Australia became not only debt free but had money in the bank due to our resources boom.
Other nations with mid-range debt are Indonesia at 41 percent of GDP, Netherlands with 43.3 percent, Mexico and Poland with 60.7 percent each and Germany with 65.4 percent.
Nations with small and easily managed debt to GDP ratios include Russia with 21.4 percent, Taiwan at 24 percent, Turkiye 26.7 percent, and Saudi Arabia 34.8 percent.
My favourite nation, where everything just looks financially perfect and very well managed, is Switzerland at 36.9 percent.
Russia’s small national debt, with its armed forces in disarray along with its economy that is going nowhere, could well be the major reason why it is trying to take over its neighbour Ukraine – the major grain producer in Europe.
We could use the same reckoning as to why China is interested in obtaining Taiwan, which is a far more modern society with a high level of technical skill.
It is also interesting that Turkiye is said to be creating issues amongst other countries in its region as these lightly borrowed nations seek to expand.
Nations stand, expand or fall due to their borrowings and how they manage their debt.
We in our personal lives seem to operate under the same conditions.
None of us should ever forget one of life’s golden rules for finding out what is going on in our world.
That rule is: follow the money.
By John BLACKBOURN
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