IMFBlog2021-12-23T10:00:05-05:00December 23, 2021|
IMFBlog2022-02-14T14:30:07-05:00December 15, 2021|
IMFBlog2021-11-05T09:04:19-04:00October 13, 2021|
IMFBlog2021-02-02T10:19:45-05:00February 1, 2021|
By Xuehui Han, Paulo Medas, and Susan Yang
Many countries entered the pandemic with elevated debt levels. Our new update of the IMF’s Global Debt Database shows that global debt—public plus private—reached $197 trillion in 2019, up by $9 trillion from the previous year. This substantial debt created challenges for countries that faced a debt surge in 2020, as economic activity collapsed and governments acted swiftly to provide support during the pandemic.
Higher debt can potentially reduce the ability of governments to react to the COVID-19 crisis.
Our data show that the global average debt-to-GDP ratio (weighted by each country’s GDP in US dollars) rose to 226 percent in 2019, 1.5 percentage points higher than in 2018. Most of the increase came from higher public debt in emerging market economies and advanced economies outside of Europe. In low-income countries, total debt rose by 1.3 percentage points of GDP in 2019—mostly driven, in contrast, by higher private debt.
As shown in our chart of the week, a dive into the numbers reveals that the 2019 global public debt surpassed its 2007 level by 23 percentage points of GDP. This is primarily driven by the higher […]
IMFBlog2021-01-28T11:01:57-05:00January 28, 2021|
By Vitor Gaspar, Raphael Lam, Paolo Mauro, and Mehdi Raissi
عربي, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский
The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating in many countries and uncertainty is unusually high. […]
IMFBlog2020-10-19T11:44:24-04:00October 19, 2020|
By Jihad Azour and Joyce Wong
Countries in the Middle East and Central Asia face with COVID-19 a public health emergency unlike any seen in our lifetime, along with an unprecedented economic downturn. […]
IMFBlog2021-07-06T12:04:50-04:00August 27, 2020|
By Daniel Gurara, Stefania Fabrizio, and Johannes Wiegand
عربي, 中文, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский
While the COVID-19 crisis is sending shockwaves around the globe, low-income developing countries (LIDCs) are in a particularly difficult position to respond. […]
IMFBlog2020-07-14T15:11:54-04:00July 10, 2020|
By Vitor Gaspar and Gita Gopinath
عربي, 中文, Español, 日本語, Português, Русский
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has already prompted an unprecedented fiscal policy response of close to $11 trillion worldwide. […]
IMFBlog2020-02-21T09:44:28-05:00February 19, 2020|
عربي, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский
As the Group of Twenty industrialized and emerging market economies (G-20) finance ministers and central bank governors gather in Riyadh this week, they face an uncertain economic landscape.
After disappointing growth in 2019, we began to see signs of stabilization and risk reduction, including the Phase 1 U.S.-China trade deal. In January, the IMF projected growth to strengthen from 2.9 percent in 2019 to 3.3 percent in 2020 and 3.4 percent in 2021. This projected uptick in growth is dependent on improved performance in some emerging market and developing economies. […]
IMFBlog2019-08-14T07:30:12-04:00August 14, 2019|
By IMFBlog
Pensions, education, healthcare, better infrastructure, technology, and climate change: fiscal policymakers have their work cut out for them on many fronts. […]
