Georgieva, speaking at the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington, said the impact of US tariffs had been less dramatic than expected, but uncertainty remained high.

“Growth is slow, debt is high and the risks of financial downturn are quite permanent. They are there,” she said, adding that countries needed to be “much, much, much more focused on bringing debt levels down.”

Global public debt is expected to exceed 100% of GDP by 2029, Georgieva said last week.

Georgieva said the IMF was working intensively with the World Bank on helping countries that might not have unsustainable debt levels but faced severe liquidity problems and would also try to keep debt issues on the radar at the G20.

“You will see us continue to engage with the G20,” she said. “We want this to be high on the attention span … Please, this is a priority.”

South Africa, the current president of the G20, has made debt sustainability a key pillar of its year at the helm. The US, which will take over the G20 presidency in December, has not signalled great interest in the issue thus far.

Georgieva said it was critical to recognise that countries needed to grow out of debt, which highlighted the need for job creation and ensuring access to technology.

Developing countries, already saddled with high debt levels, have faced additional burdens given US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

The World Bank in April said half of some 150 developing countries are either unable to make debt service payments or at risk of getting there.

Total debt in emerging markets rose by US$3.4 trillion in the second quarter to a record of more than US$109 trillion, according to recent data from the Institute of International Finance.