IMF chief warns of widespread debt excess and urges price stability amid AI-driven inflation

During the open sessions of the 2026 IMF and World Bank gatherings in Bangkok, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva stressed that “too many countries have excessive debt,” urging governments with high borrowing to pursue fiscal consolidation. She called on central banks to give price stability top priority, arguing that maintaining higher rates today avoids more drastic measures later. Georgieva noted that artificial intelligence is contributing to short-term inflationary pressures, while its longer-term impact is still unclear.

In the IMF’s World Economic Outlook released in Bangkok, the organization lifted its 2026 growth projection by a tenth of a point and increased its global inflation forecast. She warned that higher financing costs are tightening fiscal space, especially for the G7, where ten-year sovereign yields have risen by more than a percentage point since February, reaching their highest level in almost two decades. The IMF also projected that global public-debt-to-GDP could hit 100% by 2030, a level not seen since the post-World War II era.