OREANDA-NEWS. Global debt — public and private — has hit a record high of $ 188 trillion, or 230% of global GDP, Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said at the opening of the 20th annual Jacques Polack Conference in Washington. "World debt - both public and private - reached a record high of $ 188 trillion, which is about 230% of global production. The main factor in its increase was the private sector, which currently accounts for almost two-thirds of total debt", noted Georgiev.

According to her, the indicator "public debt in advanced economies is at a level that has not been since the Second World War". "The national debt of developing countries is at the level that was last observed during the debt crisis of the 1980s. In low-income countries, there has been a sharp increase in debt over the past five years", said the head of the fund.

She recalled that the growth of global debt is largely due to the financial crisis of 2008, when large-scale state support was provided to the private sector. "Recent IMF studies show that only direct government support for financial institutions during the 2008 crisis amounted to $ 1.6 trillion", the head of the IMF said.