Global public debt is projected to rise above 100% of gross domestic product by 2029, reaching its highest level since 1948 and continuing to climb, the IMF said on Wednesday, urging countries to build up buffers to guard against economic risks.

Vitor Gaspar, head of the International Monetary Fund’s fiscal affairs department, said global public debt levels could soar as high as 123% of GDP by the end of the decade under an “adverse, but plausible scenario,” just under the all-time high of 132% reached just after World War Two.

“From our viewpoint, the most concerning situation would be one in which there would be financial turmoil,” he said in an interview, citing a separate IMF report released on Tuesday that warned of a possible “disorderly” market correction.

That could unleash a fi

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