IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters that 60 percent of low-income countries were in or near "debt distress'' — an alarming threshold reached when their debt payments equal half the size of their national economies
Sri Lankans queue up to purchase kerosene oil near a fuel station in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, April 7, 2022. Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in memory with an acute foreign currency crisis leading to sever shortage of essentials like medicines, foods, fuel, cooking gas and power cuts lasting hours. Image: AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena
WASHINGTON (AP) — The heads of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank warned Wednesday that rising interest rates are squeezing the world's poorest countries as they struggle with the coronavirus and soaring food prices.
There is "a huge buildup of debt, especially in the poorest countries,'' World Bank President David Malpass said in a press conference. "As interest rates rise, the debt pressures are mounting on developing countries, and we need to move urgently towards solutions.''
Malpass said the "debt crisis'' is a topic of extensive discussion' at this week's Spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF, already dominated by other daunting issues including the war in Ukraine, the coronavirus pandemic and a slowing global economy.