LONDON - Another jump in borrowing by governments will take the global mountain of sovereign debt to $50 trillion this year, ratings agency S&P Global forecast on Thursday.

The firm predicted sovereigns will borrow an equivalent of $7.78 trillion this year, which would be up 3.2 percent on 2018.

“Some 70 percent, or $5.5 trillion, of sovereigns’ gross borrowing will be to refinance maturing long-term debt, resulting in an estimated net borrowing requirement of about $2.3 trillion, or 2.6 percent of the GDP of rated sovereigns,” said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Karen Vartapetov.

The rise in the total debt stock to $50 trillion would be a 6 percent rise on last year having been partly exacerbated by exchange rate swings.