World’s US$100 trillion fiscal timebomb ticking

Debt surge: The exterior view of the IMF building. The fund’s fiscal monitor will feature a warning that public debt levels are set to reach US$100 trillion this year, driven by China and the United States. — AFP

WASHINGTON: Even before global finance chiefs fly into Washington in the coming days, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged them in advance to tighten their belts.

Two weeks ahead of a potentially era-defining US election, and with the world’s recent inflation crisis barely behind it, ministers and central bankers gathering in the nation’s capital face intensifying calls to get their fiscal houses in order while they still can.