section_path: Background/Corporate debt bubble
section_name: Corporate debt bubble
paragraph_text: Corporate debt bubble
  
  After the 2008 financial crisis, there was a large increase in corporate debt, rising from 84% of gross world product in 2009 to 92% in 2019, or about $72 trillion. In the world's eight largest economies—China, United States, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany—total corporate debt was about $51 trillion in 2019, compared to $34 trillion in 2009. If the economic climate worsens, companies with high levels of debt run the risk of being unable to make their interest payments to lenders or refinance their debt, forcing them into restructuring. The Institute of International Finance forecast in 2019 that, in an economic downturn half as severe as the 2008 crisis, $19 trillion in debt would be owed by non-financial firms without the earnings to cover the interest payments on the debt they issued. The McKinsey Global Institute warned in 2018 that the greatest risks would be to emerging markets such as China, India, and Brazil, where 25–30% of bonds have been issued by high-risk companies.