IMF Hails 188 Nations for Averting Global Trade War — Warns on Debt and AI Risks

|By Adekunle Adejumo

The International Monetary Fund has praised governments worldwide for exercising restraint on trade retaliation, saying the restraint helped avert a fresh shock to the global economy.

Speaking at the 2025 World Bank–IMF Annual Meetings Plenary on Friday, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said 188 out of the Fund’s 191 member countries resisted retaliatory tariffs despite growing economic anxiety. “Global sentiment is holding up,” she said, even as uncertainty rises.

Georgieva outlined three urgent priorities for governments — repairing public finances, rebalancing both domestic and external macroeconomics, and reigniting long-term growth. She also warned against complacency over artificial intelligence, urging strict financial oversight and policy preparedness as AI reshapes labor markets and output.

The IMF chief disclosed that the institution has executed nearly 3,000 capacity-development projects and approved $37 billion in lending since October 2024. She pressed members to ratify a 50 percent quota expansion, fund the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust, and replenish the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust.

“Our ambition must be to remain able to assist our poorest members,” she said, stressing that the required support runs “in the millions, not billions.”

Meanwhile, International Monetary and Financial Committee Chair Mohammed Al-Jadaan raised alarm over rising debt pressures, saying advanced and emerging economies are now “approaching debt levels which require serious attention.”