Major nations ‘face $7.6trn debt rollover in 2012’

Developed economies will see $7.6trn worth of debt mature this year, with Italy towards the front of the refinancing queue at a time when its borrowing costs remain elevated.

The $7.6trn figure for the G7 economies and the BRICs is up from $7.4trn last year, according to Bloomberg, and comes at a time of slowing global growth and higher bond yields for many countries.

Japan and the US, which will have to rollover $3trn and $2.8trn worth of debt respectively in 2012, saw borrowing costs drop in 2011 as investors fled to safe havens.

But Italy, which remains at the epicentre of the eurozone crisis, has to rollover $428bn this year. This is the third highest amount, followed by France with $367bn and Germany on $285bn.

Italian 10-year bond yields continue to hover around the critical 7% mark, the figure currently standing at 6.88%, and the country had mixed fortunes with two debt auctions at the end of 2011.

On 28 December Italy sold €9bn of short-term debt at a rate of 3.25%, sharply down on the 6.5% rate at which it refinanced in the previous auction on 25 November.

But on 29 December, a separate auction of longer-dated bonds saw the country refinance €7bn worth of debt, less than the targeted €8.5bn, with yields remaining elevated.

At $13bn, the amount of debt due to be refinanced by Russia in 2012 is the lowest among the G7 and BRIC economies, followed by India with $57bn and China with $121bn. The UK's borrowing requirements are also relatively low at $165bn.