The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, has warned that soaring debt levels are suffocating economies and urged countries to take urgent steps to bring them down.
Speaking at a Civil Society Organisations (CSO) town hall during the ongoing World Bank and IMF annual meetings on Monday, Georgieva said governments must prioritise reducing debt burdens to strengthen economic resilience and stability.
“We have to be much more focused on bringing debt levels down, because very high levels of debt suffocate economies,” she said.
Her comments come as Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) revealed that the country’s total public debt rose to ₦152.39 trillion (about $99.65 billion) as of June 30. Of this, ₦80.55 trillion is domestic debt, while ₦71.84 trillion is owed to foreign creditors.
Georgieva noted that while debt levels in advanced and emerging economies continue to climb, some low-income countries are seeing theirs fall, not because of economic improvement, but because they lack access to financing.
“Debt levels are declining in low-income economies, but they’re going down because they have no access to financing,” she explained. “Even then, it remains incredibly difficult for low-income countries to cope with these levels of debt.”
The IMF chief said the Fund would continue to focus on policies and partnerships that help countries manage debt sustainably while supporting economic growth.
Nigeria is classified by the World Bank as a lower-middle-income economy, but its growing debt profile remains a major concern among economists and policymakers.