The debt pile: IMF sounds a warning about growing levels of debt

India's general government debt, at 69 per cent of GDP, according to the IMF, is significantly high for a country at its level of development

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released a set of indicators for worldwide debt that has raised many valid concerns. It estimated that global debt was now $164 trillion, 225 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP). This is, says the IMF, a "historic high"; the world economy is 12 per cent deeper in debt than in 2009, "with China as a driving force". In advanced economies, the driver of increased debt since the financial crisis is government, with states running deficits in order to counteract the effects of the crisis in their economies. In developing economies, meanwhile, the