IMF chief warns that world risks falling into slow-growth rut and urges China to enact reforms

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The world economy, buffeted by conflict and growing geopolitical rivalries, is in danger of getting stuck in a slow-growth, high-debt rut, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned Thursday

WASHINGTON — The world economy, buffeted by conflict and growing geopolitical rivalries, is in danger of getting stuck in a slow-growth, high-debt rut, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned Thursday. She also urged Chinese leaders to take more decisive action to jump-start their country's sluggish economy or risk seeing economic growth plummet.

“These are anxious times,’’ the fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, told reporters during the fall meetings of the IMF and its sister agency, the World Bank.

The IMF forecasts that the global economy will expand this year at what Georgieva called an “anemic'' 3.2%.

Global trade is lackluster at a time of conflict and growing geopolitical tension — including frosty relations the world's two largest economies, the United States and China. ”Trade is no more a powerful engine of growth,'' she said. «We live in a more fragmented global economy.'

At the same time, many countries are struggling with debts they took on to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The IMF expects government debts worldwide to to top $100 trillion this year. That would equal to 93% of global economic output — a share that is expected to approach 100% by 2030.

“The global economy is in danger of getting stuck on a low growth, high debt path,'' Georgieva said. ”That means lower income and fewer jobs.''

Still, the economic backdrop isn't entirely bleak.

The IMF says the world has made considerable progress to rein in inflation that surged in 2021 and 2022 as economies roared back with unexpected