LIMA, Peru (AP) — The International Monetary Fund says the biggest risks to the global economy are now in emerging markets, where private companies have racked up considerable debt amid a fifth straight year of slowing growth.
Top bank official Jose Vinals says the Fund estimates "that there is up to $3 trillion in over-borrowing in emerging markets."
Vinals presented the IMF's Global Financial Stability report on Wednesday at its annual meeting, being held in Peru.
He says an unprecedented lending spree has come to an end with the plunge in prices for oil, minerals and other commodities that economists attribute to China's slowdown.
The risk is that shocks from bankruptcies in the developing world's private sector could be amplified in global financial markets.
