Thursday, May 21, 2009
Totally moneymungous, pop-pickers! Not half!
CNBC: The World's Biggest Debtor Nations
Who are the world's biggest debtor nations? The rankings may surprise you!
Posted by devo @ 10:37 PM (1416 views) Add Comment
19 Comments
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1. little professor said...
That was very surprising.
The rankings for those that don't want to click through 15 pages:
15. United States (external debt 95% of GDP)
14. Norway (114%)
13. Finland (116%)
12. Sweden (129%)
10=. Spain (138%)
10=.Germany (138%)
9. Denmark (159%)
8. France (168%)
7. Austria (191%)
6. Switzerland (264%)
5. Netherlands (268%)
4. Hong Kong (295%)
3. Belgium (327%)
2. United Kingdom (336%)
1. Ireland (811%)
2. japanese uncle said...
How long can this nation carry on with 0.5% base rate? That is the question.
3. amjidk said...
What's puzzling is the way sterling has risen against the USD, over the last week.....
4. Mikelivingstone said...
Do bear in mind this is gross and not net debt.
That said, going through the list almost looked like the Eurovision song context results from the 1980s.
5. Charlie Brooker said...
@japanese uncle
Should Britain's credit rating be two Bs or not two Bs? That is the question.
(We're now suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune)
6. Charlie Brooker said...
@japanese uncle:
Should the UKs credit rating be two B's or not two B's? That is the question.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_be,_or_not_to_be
7. charlie brooker said...
@japanese uncle
Should the UK's credit rating be two B's or not two B's? That is the question.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_be,_or_not_to_be
8. devo said...
Aww little professor, you've spoiled all the fun - I had a load of poptastic, top 15, Smash and Nicey-type comments to make.
Never mind.
9. devo said...
But in the words of the mighty Bachman Turner Overdrive; 'You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet', mate.
(cue music)....
10. Beartil2010 said...
Surprised Japan's not in there.
Would have like to have seen some more details on their methodology. How's Iceland doing as well?
Glad to know we (UK) are nearly best at something. World beaters!
11. taffee said...
thing is....why do any of these countries need to have any debt at all?......I mean we've had 11 years of boom whilst increasing debt levels.
bizzarre
12. vindicated said...
Amjidk,
We have been puzzling over the same scenario our end... what IS that all about???? I watched the pound creep up against the dollar almost hourly the other day. Too weird. Anyone have any thunks on that?
13. growler said...
@devo
Me too. Loads of musical reminders. Have a read of Chris Rea "Road to Hell".... formidable, right, not arf.
14. Elpapasito said...
No explanation of what it means by external debt though. Is it gross or net? Govt or national?
15. techieman said...
amjidk - the markets are perverse, discount things and dont go in straight lines. After a move from 2.11 to the 1.35s its hardly surprising there is some move back. Idealised move to 1.64/1.65 as part of or all of the retracement level looks about right. The thing is "similar" in shape to the Footsie.
Anyway - isnt it time you started to look to hedge if you think its overdone (which in the very short term it may be)?
16. bystander said...
Where is Iceland on the list????
17. uncle tom said...
This is a rather silly exercise - it takes the debt of a nation to other nations, without considering what other nations owe in return. Thus a large country that is fairly self-sufficient scores relatively well, while small countries, and those that have a very international flavour to their business, tend to score badly.
Even the nett figure tells you very little, without knowing what currencies that debt is denominated in.
This is just a dumb piece by an American news organisation to make the Yanks feel good about themselves.
18. bellwether said...
Am I right in thinking that CNBC are owned by GE, certainly one of the big news channels are.
Agree with those who question the metodology but also don't think the picture is that skewed, by most measures the UK and Ireland as well as having the biggest property bubble (pop goes the collateral) are also the biggest sinners when it comes to external debt. The finances of both coutries are a possibly irreparable mess.
Also whatever the precise figures the US is in better shape than many of these countries and in far better shape than the UK. Wait till the property bubble starts to really burst and puzzle how we will grow our GDP when 75% of it is consumer spending and when personal debt in the UK is higher than just about any country on earth. Bar Ireland of course.
19. 51ck-6-51x said...
This is not analysis, it's numerology; it's just CNBC 80££0%.