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Is the world drowning in debt?

A new report by the Institute of International Finance states that global debt load has grown by a massive US$78 trillion since 2008 and had topped US$250 trillion by the first half of 2019.

“But the payoff has been modest: since 2008, the global economy has expanded by only $28 trillion, bringing global debt-to-GDP ratio to a record high of 320%,” the IIF said.

On the domestic front, Canadian consumers also appear to be stretched, with debt-to-income hovering at a record high, debt growth turning up again, and savings weak, according to BMO Capital Markets.

At the same time, just under 12,000 consumers filed for insolvency in September, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy — a 19% increase from a year earlier and the biggest annual gain since 2009. So far in 2019, there have been 102,023 consumer insolvencies, the second-most for the first nine months of a year in records dating back to 1987, according to a Bloomberg report.