Global Debt Hits Rp 6,133 Quadrillion, Investors Begin Diversifying from the US
KOMPAS.com – Global debt total reached a new record in the first quarter of 2026. The Institute of International Finance (IIF) recorded the world’s debt value approaching $353 trillion or about Rp 6,133 quadrillion (assuming an exchange rate of Rp 17,377 per US dollar).
In the Global Debt Monitor report released on Wednesday (6/5/2026), IIF stated that the increase in global debt reached more than $4.4 trillion throughout the first three months of this year.
This increase was the fastest since mid-2025 and marked an increase over five consecutive quarters.
Quoted from Reuters, IIF’s Director of Global Markets and Policy, Emre Tiftik, said that international demand for Japanese and European government bonds has strengthened since the beginning of the year. In contrast, demand for US government bonds tends to be stagnant.
“This indicates efforts by international investors to diversify from US Treasury,” Tiftik said during the webinar launching the report.
Nevertheless, Tiftik assessed that there is no immediate risk to the US government bond market, which has a value of around $30 trillion. However, long-term projections show that US government debt is increasingly moving in an unsustainable direction.
On the other hand, the US corporate bond market continues to develop. This condition is supported by the issuance of debt instruments related to the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and the strong inflow of funds from foreign investors.
Besides the US, debt increases also occurred in China. IIF recorded a sharp acceleration in non-financial corporate lending in that country, especially state-owned enterprises. This corporate lending increase even surpassed the growth of China’s government debt.
Outside the US and China, debt levels in advanced countries were recorded to have slightly decreased. In contrast, developing countries outside China experienced a moderate increase to a record $36.8 trillion, mainly driven by an increase in government borrowing.
The debt ratio in advanced countries tends to decrease, while in developing countries it continues to increase.
IIF recorded the largest increases in debt ratios in Norway, Kuwait, China, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. These five countries experienced increases of more than 30 percentage points against GDP.
Looking ahead, IIF predicts that structural pressures will continue to drive increases in government and corporate debt in the medium to long term.
The driving factors include ageing populations, increased defence spending, energy security needs and supply diversification, strengthening cybersecurity, and capital expenditure related to AI.
According to Tiftik, the latest conflicts in the Middle East also have the potential to enlarge these pressures in the near future.