For a country or an individual that is self sufficient and economically intelligent, borrowing does not occur for them even in crisis situation, not bad to get a support, but borrowing definitely do more harm than good most especially those credits that come with high growing interests. The best thing in this situation to avoid borrowing is to have an emergency founds a d multiple cash flows, so countries and individuals need to be more productive to avoid unwanted borrowing that eat up their savings and revenues in the long term.
I will agree with you that borrowing does more harm than good, and if it is a third world country then things are even worse there. Especially the people in the government of that country borrow money at high interest rates to develop the country but a huge part of that loan money goes into their own pockets through corruption. And this really makes a country more crippled.
However, it is also true that there are many countries in the world that cannot move forward or operate on their own without loans, so they have no other choice.
There is no other choice, it is a logical reason in my opinion, as well as for everyone, even though I am sure that no one wants to borrow, especially with high interest, but for someone it must be done to meet needs or urgency and there are also those who borrow to advance a business, I think that is normal, but again, it comes down to the goal and the solution, there must be careful calculations so that the loan can be repaid.
Everyone is aware that debt is not a good choice, still, in most situations, it is the only tool to survive or succeed. The desire to have rapid development could be one of the factors that motivate governments of developing countries to take loans. However, when the said money ends up in the pockets of the rich upwards of the beneficial projects funds, then that hope turns into a multi year burden.
I am of the opinion that credit is a good thing when it is approached on a level that is honest, transparent, and it is calculated in the very first place. It is not enough to say that it is the system or high interest rates since the intention and further steps each person makes after receiving the loan are the real problems. With the wrong initial objective, the outcomes will prove to be burdensome to the people. However, when we plan ahead of ourselves, compute the risk and make good moral in using the money then debt can become a great leap and not a pit. I believe we can change a lot of other things as well when honesty and responsibility are not compromised in the middle of the way.