Opinion: Beware of personal debt - it may come back to haunt you 27 Apr, 2021 10:00 PM 3 minutes to read Our current household debt stands at 95 per cent of GDP, writes Tim Wilson. Photo / Getty Images Our current household debt stands at 95 per cent of GDP, writes Tim Wilson. Photo / Getty Images Bay of Plenty Times One of the biggest financial impacts of Covid-19 has been debt. Last year alone added US$24 trillion to the global debt abyss, as calculated by the Washington-headquartered Institute of International Finance. The world debt to GDP ratio surged by 35 percentage points during the year of Covid to 355 per cent.