"I think globally, the serious, serious issue that we need to watch is sovereign debt," Mohammed Al-Jadaan told CNBC in Riyadh.
Global public debt hit a record $97 trillion in 2023, prompting the United Nations to call for urgent reforms for governments and financial systems around the world.RIYADH — National debt is a major threat to markets in the near future, Saudi Arabia's finance minister said, expressing particular concern over lower income countries as well as what he described as rapidly growing global fragmentation.
"I think globally, the serious, serious issue that we need to watch is sovereign debt issues, particularly in low income countries and emerging economies that do not have the fiscal buffers to lean into in case of disruptions in the market," Mohammed Al-Jadaan told CNBC's Dan Murphy Wednesday from the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh.
"That is not good for the world, and we need to make sure that we find a solution to that. Hopefully we will, and we are working collectively global to reach that solution."Germany's inflation surges to 2.4% as it narrowly skirts a technical recession