Talal Rafi delivers keynote on “Global Debt Outlook” at conference in Slovakia

Friday, 9 January 2026 00:02 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Economist Talal Rafi

Sri Lankan economist Talal Rafi delivered a keynote address for the 20th Academy of Global Business Research and Practice (AGBRP) Annual Conference in Slovakia on 7 January, headlining global discussions on sovereign-debt instability and its widening macroeconomic fallout.

His keynote, titled “Global Debt Outlook: Global Debt Instability and Macroeconomic Disruption,” positioned public debt as a defining vulnerability for the global economy. Rafi opened by framing a new era of systemic debt fragility, where high debt constrains growth and debt distress destabilises macro fundamentals.

Rafi outlined the scale of the crisis stating how global public debt reached $ 102 trillion in 2024, rising $ 5 trillion in one year. He stressed that developing-nation debt is expanding at twice the pace of advanced economies and 61 nations are spending over 10% of revenue on interest alone. Interest payments totalled a record $ 921 billion in 2024, where 3.4 billion people live in countries where debt payments are higher than spending on either education or health.

Rafi identified the core driver towards a debt crisis as persistent fiscal deficit, while highlighting many other issues contributing to pushing countries towards a debt crisis which include lower government revenue, higher borrowing costs and populist policies.

Rafi also highlighted the need for a stronger and better funded International Monetary Fund as it is the lender of last resort and as more nations approach higher debt levels with record global debt levels, the IMF will remain an indispensable institution.