As long as debts are issued in their own currencies(Japan in Yens, US in dollars, etc) it doesn't cause any problem because people can swap nominal assets aka paper money(say, JPY) for real assets(gold, oil, rice, chips, etc). Only developed countries have this luxury of having 262% or 500% debt-to-GDP ratio.
Third world countries (say, Sudan, India) can print money like Japan and US, but Saudi doesn't to swap their oil with Sudanese pounds. Now you see where this logic is leading to: as long as real asset holders are happy to part with their real assets for dollars/JPY, debt-to-GDP ration can stay 1000% or 10000%.
Third world countries (say, Sudan, India) can print money like Japan and US, but Saudi doesn't to swap their oil with Sudanese pounds. Now you see where this logic is leading to: as long as real asset holders are happy to part with their real assets for dollars/JPY, debt-to-GDP ration can stay 1000% or 10000%.