Leaders of several global financial bodies warned that rising interest rates are increasing pressure on low-income developing countries, around 60% of which are now in or at high risk of debt distress.

Public debt burdens in developing countries have been exacerbated in recent years by back-to-back global crises, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine coming on the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic, while many heavily-indebted nations are also dealing with idiosyncratic pressures from climate events or conflict.

Major central banks around the world have tightened monetary policy aggressively over the past year in order to rein in soaring inflation. A lot of the debt accrued by low-income countries is coming due over the next couple of years, however, and rising interest rates mean these countries will find it increasingly difficult to meet their repayments.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have established a host of relief measures in recent years, including the IMF-World Bank Debt Sustainability Framework, designed to guide the borrowing of low-income countries in a way that ensures stability in public finances.

Meanwhile the G-20 Common Framework, an initiative endorsed by the Paris Club — the group of officials from major lending countries tasked with finding solutions for debtor countries — was established in late 2020 to offer additional support in the form of grants to countries with unsustainable debt.

Ghana in January became the fourth country  to seek debt treatment under the Common Framework, alongside Chad, Ethiopia and Zambia.

Yet the implementation, in practical terms, has not been smooth. Zambia, which became the first African country to default in 2020  after the onset of the pandemic, complained earlier this month  that it was being “punished” in the debt restructuring process because its two main creditors, international bondholders and China, had failed to reach an agreement.

The IMF said earlier this month that the next instalment of Zambia’s $1.3 billion rescue loan was contingent on a debt restructuring agreement being reached.

Despite the provisions already in place, World Bank Senior Managing Director Axel van Trotsenburg told CNBC last week that with interest rates still rising and global growth slowing, more collaborative efforts from international bodies and developed economies would be needed.

“I think we should be worried. World economic growth is relatively weak and that has its implications, the increased interest rate means that a lot of capital has flowed out of developing countries — this is badly needed for investment, so many of the developing countries are under stress,” he told CNBC’s Joumanna Bercetche at the IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C.

High interest rates in developed nations like the U.S. lead many investors to flock back to dollar-denominated assets, curbing their foreign investments.

“Particularly the poorest countries are bearing the brunt of it because they have in the first place a hard time to attract capital, and they have also to deal with other crises from conflict to climate, so this is a tough time,” van Trotsenburg said.

As such, van Trotsenburg called for “renewed solidarity with developing countries” from international bodies and major economies not just in the form of words, but with increased resources.