LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Small developing island states heavily exposed to the effects of climate change and often in critical debt situations spend at least 18 times more on debt servicing than they receive in climate finance, a report showed. The Eurodad report found that the island states from Guinea-Bisseau to the Dominican Republic to Samoa received just $1.5 billion in climate finance between them between 2016-2020. Public debt levels in the island states had risen from an average of near 66% of GDP in 2019 to nearly 83% in 2020 and were set to remain above 70% until 2025, the report found. In June, the fund's executive board approved a $60 million programme for Cape Verde while Barbados struck a deal for $293 million in late September. The report found that more than 80% of the island states were in debt difficulties under criteria established by the IMF and World Bank Debt Sustainability Analysis, or by civil society groups Debt Justice UK and Jubilee Germany.

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