Serious debt crisis unfolding across developing countries - UNDP

FILE PHOTO: People await their turn at the Aluche Mutual Support Network where hundreds queue every Saturday to receive basic food necessities amidst soaring inflation and consumer price hikes, in the Aluche neighbourhood in Madrid, Spain, September 24, 2022. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura

The United Nations' Development Programme (UNDP) joined on Tuesday the chorus of institutions and charities warning that a serious debt crisis is now taking hold in the poorest parts of the world.

In a new report, the UNDP estimated that 54 countries, accounting for more than half of the world’s poorest people, now needed immediate debt relief to avoid even more extreme poverty and give them a chance of dealing with climate change.