The ominous shadow of global debt

The IMF's latest reports warn that piecemeal solutions won't suffice anymore

The clouds of a potential debt crisis are threatening to cast an ominous shadow over the global economic landscape. The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest Fiscal Monitor (April 2024) has flagged grave concerns. Even four years past the Covid-19 outbreak, fiscal deficits and debts remain elevated worldwide compared to pre-pandemic projections. 

The IMF’s latest Global Debt Monitor, which tracked data until December 2022, reported total global debt (private plus public) to have risen to $235 trillion, equivalent to 238 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) — a good 9 percentage point above its pre-Covid level, driven primarily by