The writer, incoming Professor of Practice at Georgetown University, is a former deputy research director at the IMF

The human suffering wrought by Sri Lanka’s recent debt default is a tragedy. Sri Lankans unable to get access to life-saving medicines, food, water or fuel show the human dimension of financial problems.

But the tragedy is not restricted to one country. There is a serious risk it could prove to be much more widespread, given the proportion (nearly 60 per cent) of the world’s poorest countries that are already classified as being in debt distress or at high risk of it. And debt service burdens in middle-income countries are also worrying — even before one factors in the spillovers from higher US interest rates. These will tighten financial conditions globally, and thereby raise the odds of default in emerging market economies with unhedged balance sheets, lagging economic recoveries and shorter-maturity public debt.