New waves of social unrest could erupt in some countries if government measures to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic are seen as insufficient or unfairly favouring the wealthy, the International Monetary Fund has said in a new report.

Governments had already spent nearly $8 trillion to combat the pandemic and mitigate the economic fallout, but more fiscal stimulus would be needed once the crisis abated, the global lender said in its semi-annual Fiscal Monitor.

The spike in spending would sharply widen fiscal deficits, with global public debt set to rise 13 percentage points to more than 96 per cent of gross domestic product in 2020, it said.

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