MK sports DC, US. Photo: VCG" style="font-family:"sans serif", tahoma, verdana, helvetica;font-size:16px;" />

Signs for the IMF and World Bank fall meetings are seen inside the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC, US. Photo: VCG

The head of the IMF has recently stated that elevated consumer prices "are here to stay," intensifying the pain from sluggish global economic growth and mounting debt burdens.

Kristalina Georgieva, the fund's managing director, highlighted a widespread reluctance of governments to rein in deficit spending or raise taxes. Rising levels of government borrowing mean that a growing share of fiscal revenues is being used to cover interest payments, while lackluster economic growth heightened the challenge of curbing debts, she said.

At the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, DC, additional measures to support low-income countries in debt distress was one of the major topics.

It's not just the debt of low-income countries. The ballooning debt levels in developed nations, a main driver of global debt accumulation, have sparked widespread concern in the international community and are now threatening global financial stability.

For some time, the US and other developed countries have been grappling with sluggish economies, weak growth, domestic employment challenges and a host of other issues, relying on fiscal leverage to stimulate growth.

However, if the US continues to borrow heavily while simultaneously devaluing the dollar and expanding money market supply, it will effectively export inflation to the rest of the world. This doesn't just affect developing countries, but it will spill over into international markets, creating instability and posing a significant risk to global financial security.

Since the 1980s, the US government has been amassing substantial debt. In 1985, the US transitioned from being a net creditor to a net debtor, and its federal government debt levels have continued to climb ever since. The US Congressional Budget Office's latest long-term budget outlook shows public debt rising from about 98 percent of GDP in 2023 to reach 181 percent of GDP expected in 2053, the highest level in American history.

US debt is racing down an unsustainable path, and both political parties are unwilling to hit the brakes for political reasons. Especially with the presidential election approaching, it seems unlikely that either party will introduce any significant measures to cut government spending or rein in debt.

Nevertheless, it's crucial to call on developed nations, led by the US, to curb their soaring debts and not pass the fiscal risk onto the global community. They also need to take responsibility by providing meaningful support to help developing countries ease their debt pressures.

In reality, developed countries have frequently treated their financial support for developing nations as a means to serve their own interests, using debt as a tool of influence and pressuring others to align with their agendas. This explains why the debt problems of developing nations have not been effectively addressed.

Western countries are the architects of pulling developing nations into a "debt trap." Starting in the 1980s, the World Bank and IMF, dominated by the West, began flooding Latin America and other developing regions with loans, leading to stagflation that the region has yet to fully overcome.

Rather than learning from past mistakes, Western countries continue to push developing nations, especially the least developed ones, to enter international capital markets and encourage them to issue sovereign bonds.

These countries' debt issues also pose a significant risk to the global economy. In today's environment of slow growth, the economic growth of those nations is a vital engine for worldwide development. If they are unable to secure consistent, stable and predictable financial support for their growth, it will be detrimental to their economic recovery and stability.

The bulging debt levels are a wake-up call for the developing countries, indicating the need for them to avoid over-reliance on external support. Instead, they should harness their own resources to unlock effective development strategies, break through growth bottlenecks, and use their own momentum to drive progress.

The author is a professor from the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University. [email protected]