Global public debt scenario has not improved in a meaningful way since Covid, and the recent conflict in West Asia has only added further fiscal pressure to an already strained global landscape. However, the conflict’s fiscal impact is highly asymmetric. Energy-importing countries, particularly low-income developing countries, face the largest costs, while the pool of potential beneficiaries is narrower than in past energy shocks, as major Gulf exporters are themselves directly affected by the conflict. This leads to a potential snowballing of public debt across countries as per the IMF Fiscal Monitor April 2026 report.

Published on April 23, 2026