Economics

The Looming Debt Crisis About to Make Everything Worse

It’s hard to imagine a more chaotic world than the one we’re in right now. But it’s coming.

An outdoor market in the Tijuca neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro.

Photographer: Maria Magdalena Arrellaga/Bloomberg
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It’s hard to imagine a more chaotic world than the one we’re in right now—what with Russia’s war on Ukraine, a Covid-19 pandemic that won’t quit and the lockdowns spreading across China as a result. Now, add to the mix a debt crisis that’s threatening to cripple emerging markets. In the words of a former International Monetary Fund official earlier this month, “We can see this train wreck coming towards us.”