- Global Finance and Economy 2026
- Chapter 3
Systems and sectors at baseline
Contents
- ·Edition home
- ·Executive summary
- 1Finance is where shocks are priced
- 2Key findings
- 3Systems and sectors at baseline
- 4Risks and capability
- 5Sovereign bond repricing under inflation and thin fiscal space
- 6Readings from the other desks
- 7The 2027 agenda
- 8Systems in depth
- AMethodology
- BData appendix
- CReferences and record
- ·Complete edition, for print
3.1Where each system stood at evidence close
FIN · Output
Growth in world output
3.5%IMF basis; 2.9% on the World Bank basis.
Reported2025IMF2
FIN · Debt
Advanced-economy government gross debt
108.2% of GDPemerging and developing economies 73.7%.
Reported2025IMF2
FIN · Interest
Developing countries’ net interest on public debt
995USD billionmedian 8.1% of government revenue.
Reported2025UNCTAD10
TRD · Investment
Global foreign direct investment
1.6USD trillionup 6%; developing economies USD 901 billion.
Reported2025UNCTAD9
FIN · Inclusion
Adults with an account
79%40% of adults in developing economies saved in a financial account.
Reported2024Findex8
SYS · Cross-system
Euro area deposit facility rate
2.50%raised on 17 June and 16 September 2026 from 2.00%.
Reported2026ECB19
3.2Domain posture
Each of the twelve coupled domains is read through finance and economy, in words, not scored. The coupling column names the dependency that carries finance and economy risk into each domain.
| Domain | Posture at baseline | Coupling | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| WAT | Utilities and irrigation depend on public and development finance and on credit. No consolidated global series is bound here. | FIN ↔ WAT | Expert input EQL 1 |
| ENE | Energy price shocks reach policy rates, inflation and budgets. The euro area deposit facility rate rose to 2.50% in 2026. | ENE → FIN | Reported EQL 4 |
| FOO | Food prices were 5.8% above a year earlier in September 2026 and fertiliser prices rose 50% after the conflict began. | ENE → FOO → FIN | Reported EQL 3 |
| HLT | Interest exceeds health or education spending in 51 developing countries; a Senegal case study links external debt to constrained health budgets. | FIN → HLT | Reported EQL 4 |
| BIO | Nature loss is a sovereign credit risk in a scenario across 23 countries; current ratings do not reflect it. | BIO → FIN | Scenario EQL 2 |
| CLI | One in four adults in low and middle income economies faced a natural disaster in the past three years; insured loss series were not opened. | CLI → FIN | Reported EQL 2 |
| INF | Payment versus payment settles 36% of foreign exchange obligations; Basel III adoption is 47% complete; the EU digital resilience rules apply. | FIN ↔ INF | Reported EQL 4 |
| FIN | Debt, reserves, non-bank leverage and bond yields at decade highs define the core of the system. | the core system | Reported EQL 8 |
| DAT | Official series are open through data services, but growth and inflation differ by issuer and some world aggregates are not published. | DAT → FIN | Reported EQL 3 |
| AIC | AI capital expenditure above USD 1 trillion in 2025 and 2026 lifts investment and valuations; FSB sound practices address AI in finance. | AIC → FIN | Reported EQL 4 |
| MIN | Input and commodity price spikes reach finance through inflation; mineral-specific finance is not consolidated here. | MIN → FIN | Inferred EQL 1 |
| TRD | Foreign direct investment of USD 1.6 trillion is concentrated in a few strategic sectors and economies. | TRD ↔ FIN | Reported EQL 4 |
3.3Sector screens
All sixteen sectors are screened for their dependence on finance and economy, on the same grammar as every national edition. The evidence column describes coverage of the baseline evidence, not the performance of the sector.
| Code | Sector | Baseline evidence | Exposure to watch | Evidence coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GS-00 | Cross-system | finance prices every other system’s shock110 | sovereign repricing | PARTIAL |
| GS-01 | Water | utility and irrigation finance not consolidated | infrastructure funding gaps | THIN |
| GS-02 | Energy | energy-driven inflation and rate rises119 | price shock transmission | GOOD |
| GS-03 | Food | food price index 5.8% above a year earlier25 | input cost pass-through | PARTIAL |
| GS-04 | Health | interest exceeds health spending in many countries10 | budget displacement | GOOD |
| GS-05 | Finance | debt, reserves and non-bank leverage241 | sovereign bond repricing | GOOD |
| GS-06 | Development | official assistance down 23.1% in real terms27 | financing squeeze | GOOD |
| GS-07 | Climate | one in four adults faced a disaster in three years8 | disaster finance | THIN |
| GS-08 | Disaster | insured loss series not opened | protection gaps | THIN |
| GS-09 | Infrastructure | payment and settlement systems12 | settlement risk | PARTIAL |
| GS-10 | Cities | municipal finance not consolidated | borrowing costs | THIN |
| GS-11 | Biodiversity | nature risk in sovereign credit30 | credit repricing | PARTIAL |
| GS-12 | Earth observation | data for exposure and loss estimation | continuity of data | THIN |
| GS-13 | Cyber and digital | digital operational resilience rules23 | outsourcing and cyber stress | PARTIAL |
| GS-14 | Policy | Basel III and FSB standards2215 | implementation gaps | GOOD |
| GS-15 | Science | financial network research2829 | data on non-bank links | PARTIAL |
Notes
Numbers are the edition’s reference numbers, so a note reads the same in every chapter. The full list, with every source and its licence, is in Annex C. Annex C, references
- 2DATA VINTAGE AFTER CLOSE: International Monetary Fund (ed.), World Economic Outlook database, current vintage with a publication date of 13 October 2026 (world, advanced economy and emerging market and developing economy aggregates and selected country series), retrieved through the IMF data service; released after the 30 September evidence close and cited as the position at access. IMF, Washington. Observation year 2025 (estimates, with projections to 2027). Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 10UNCTAD (ed.), A World of Debt 2026: Rising debt costs and stalling development (report page with key statistics; the full report and data file were not opened). United Nations Trade and Development, Geneva. Observation year 2025 (regional shares 2023; the year of the 51-country and 3.7 billion people counts is not stated on the page). Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 9UNCTAD (ed.), World Investment Report 2026: overview (PDF, 7 July 2026). United Nations Trade and Development, Geneva. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 8World Bank (ed.), The Global Findex Database 2025 (landing page and summary statements: account ownership, savings, emergency funds, disaster exposure). World Bank, Washington. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 19European Central Bank (ed.), ECB Data Portal, key interest rates (deposit facility rate and main refinancing operations rate, dates of change to 16 September 2026; harmonised index series), retrieved through the ECB data service. ECB, Frankfurt. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 1Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Annual Economic Report 2026: From resilience to robustness? (chapters I to III), Basel, 28 June 2026. BIS, Basel. Observation year 2025 (with events of early 2026). Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 25Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (ed.), FAO Food Price Index, release for September 2026. FAO, Rome. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 4International Monetary Fund (ed.), Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER), quarterly series to the second quarter of 2026, retrieved through the IMF data service. IMF, Washington. Observation year 2026 (second quarter). Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 27United Nations Economic and Social Council (ed.), Draft intergovernmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations of the forum on financing for development follow-up, E/FFDF/2026/L.1, as adopted on 24 April 2026, advance unedited version. United Nations, New York. Observation year 2025 (ODA outcome) and 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 12Bank for International Settlements (ed.), BIS Quarterly Review, June 2026 (article: Uncovering FX settlement risk, new measures from the 2025 BIS Triennial Survey). BIS, Basel. Observation year 2025 (April survey). Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 30Agarwala, M., Burke, M., Klusak, P., Kraemer, M., Volz, U. et al., Biodiversity loss will decrease the future creditworthiness of nations, Nature Ecology and Evolution 10, 2026 (open-access full text read through the PubMed Central service). Springer Nature. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 23European Union (ed.), Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 of the European Parliament and of the Council on digital operational resilience for the financial sector (DORA), Official Journal of the European Union, 2022 (consolidated text read on the legal-acts portal; applies from 17 January 2025). Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. Observation year 2022. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 22Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (ed.), Basel III implementation: adoption status of the standards as of 30 September 2026 (implementation page). BIS, Basel. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 15POST-CLOSE, context only: Financial Stability Board (ed.), Public sector backstop funding: peer review of jurisdictions, October 2026 (publication page; the report was not opened); released after the 30 September evidence close. FSB, Basel. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 28Jackson, M.O. and Pernoud, A., Systemic Risk in Financial Networks: A Survey, arXiv preprint 2012.12702, December 2020 (the preprint states that it is forthcoming in the Annual Review of Economics; the published version was not opened). Observation year 2020. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 29Bardoscia, M., Battiston, S., Caccioli, F. and Caldarelli, G., DebtRank: A microscopic foundation for shock propagation, arXiv preprint 1504.01857, version 2, June 2015 (preprint read; the journal version was not opened). Observation year 2015. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
