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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2026
IMF-World Bank meetings leave developing countries with more questions than answers
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Reuters
19 October, 2026, 12:55 pm
Last modified: 19 October, 2026, 12:57 pm
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IMF-World Bank meetings leave developing countries with more questions than answers
Kristalina Georgieva, the first IMF chief from a developing country, Bulgaria, said advanced economies were actually the worst offenders when it came to budget imbalances.
Reuters
19 October, 2026, 12:55 pm
Last modified: 19 October, 2026, 12:57 pm
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva speaks as Singapore's President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and President of the World Bank Group Ajay Banga look on during the IMF/World Bank 2026 Annual Meetings at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. Photo: Reuters
Last week's meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank offered no new answers for the developing world to questions raised by the spreading war in the Middle East, the continuing war in Ukraine, rising debt payments and the potential for an AI bubble.
Once again, lower-income countries are being hit by the spillover effects of actions taken by wealthier nations, including rising debt-servicing costs, higher inflation and the risk of falling further behind economically as a result of the AI boom.
Instead, they received the familiar advice from global lenders: reduce fiscal deficits and accelerate economic reforms to attract more private sector investment.
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Kristalina Georgieva, the first IMF chief from a developing country, Bulgaria, said advanced economies were actually the worst offenders when it came to budget imbalances. She noted that developing countries' debt levels had fallen in recent years, only for surging bond yields elsewhere to drive up their borrowing costs.
Average debt-servicing payments in developing countries had more than doubled over the past decade to 14% of government revenue, crowding out spending on education, healthcare and other critical areas, she said.
Advanced economies focused on their own problems
Speaking at a panel on Saturday, Georgieva said many issues remained unresolved, particularly those surrounding AI.
"We are in a place where we have many more questions than we have answers. And my alert to everybody is: Do not fall for the guys that pretend they have the answers. They are tricking you."
Josh Lipsky, vice president of international economics at the Atlantic Council think tank, said the meetings had missed an opportunity to provide guidance or identify ways to help.
"It's hard to talk about the developing world when the advanced economies don't have their act together and are at risk of a fiscal crisis," he said. "And that's on top of political situations in many of these countries that makes development aid not a priority at the moment."
Mauricio Cardenas, Colombia's former finance minister and now a research scholar at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in New York, said many policymakers were left with a deep sense that "something really bad could happen", but without a clear roadmap for navigating the future.
"The IMF and World Bank are not particularly well prepared for this new phase. They understand that something is going on, they bring in experts on AI," he said. "But in the end, there's no kind of specific, concrete advice on how to be prepared for something where you don't really understand how it's going to unfold."