Global economy faces $19tn corporate debt timebomb, warns IMF

Update on markets lists eight leading countries, including US, China and UK, as vulnerable

Low interest rates are encouraging companies to take on a level of debt that risks becoming a $19tn (15tn) timebomb in the event of another global recession, the International Monetary Fund has said.

In its half-yearly update on the state of the world's financial markets, the IMF said that almost 40% of the corporate debt in eight leading countries - the US, China, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Spain - would be impossible to service if there was a downturn half as serious as that of a decade ago.

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