Rich countries borrow at 3%. Poor ones pay four or five times as much.

Nigeria
19%
Brazil
11%
S. Africa
10%
India
7%
US
4%
Germany
3%

Government borrowing cost: the yield on a 10-year government bond, by country. A bond is just a loan, so buying one means lending that government your money for ten years, and the yield is the yearly interest it pays you to do it. Percent.

Why this is happening

Investors treat rich-country bonds as safe and poor-country bonds as risky, and charge for the difference.
High US interest rates pull the world's capital toward America, so everyone else has to pay up to keep it.
A weak or volatile currency adds an extra premium on top.

The take

The countries that most need cheap money to grow are charged the most for it, while the richest borrow for almost nothing. Capital flows uphill, to those who already have it.

Source: Bloomberg, national data (2026)