The three “young” regions (United States, Africa, South Asia) are accumulating external debt, which heralds a crisis

There are three relatively “young” regions in the world today, compared with others that are ageing: the United States, Africa and South Asia (mainly India). These regions ought to have external surpluses and be accumulating external assets, while the ageing regions (Latin America, Japan, Europe, China and Southeast Asia) ought to have external deficits and be consuming their external assets. But the “young” regions have external deficits and are accumulating external debt. This heralds a crisis: when these regions do age, they will not have external assets to consume and will have great difficulty repaying their external debt: the long-term solvency of today’s young countries (regions), including the United States, is a concern.