WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The world is swimming in a record $152 trillion in debt, the IMF said yesterday, even as the institution encourages some countries to spend more to boost flagging growth if they can afford it.
Global debt, both public and private, reached 225 per cent of global economic output last year, up from about 200 per cent in 2002, the IMF said in its new Fiscal Monitor report.
The IMF said about two thirds of the 2015 total, or about $100 billion, is owed by private sector borrowers, and noted that rapid increases in private debt often lead to financial crises.
While debt profiles vary by country, the report said that the sheer size of the debt could set the stage for an unprecedented private deleveraging that could thwart a still-fragile economic recovery.
“Excessive private debt is a major headwind against the global recovery and a risk to financial stability,” IMF Fiscal Affairs Director Vitor Gaspar told a news conference. “Financial recessions are longer and deeper than normal recessions.”
While the United States has de-leveraged since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, the report cited the buildup of private debt in China and Brazil as a significant concern, fuelled in part by a long era of low interest rates.
The report comes as IMF managing director Christine Lagarde is urging the Fund’s 189 member governments that have “fiscal space” – the ability to sustainably borrow and spend more – to do so to boost persistently weak growth.
