By Vitor Gaspar, Apulo Medas, and Roberto Perrelli (*) – In 2020, we observed the largest one-year debt surge since World War II, with global debt rising to US$ 226 trillion as the world was hit by a global health crisis and a deep recession. Debt was already elevated going into the crisis, but now governments must navigate a world of record-high public and private debt levels, new virus mutations, and rising inflation.