{
  "id": 14156851,
  "title": "The resilience of the world economy is built on illusion - it's time the West woke up",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/the-resilience-of-the-world-economy-is-built-on-illusion-its-time-the",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-13T08:13:08.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Middle East Eye",
    "slug": "middle-east-eye",
    "url": "https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/world-economy-resilience-built-on-illusion-time-for-west-to-wake-up"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The world economy's resilience is built on an illusion, suggesting it may be time for the West to acknowledge this reality, according to a recent perspective. Record debt levels, a trade dispute system in disarray, and the normalization of sovereign asset seizure as a policy tool have all contributed to this fragility. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged during his Davos speech that powerful nations are using economic coercion to achieve their objectives. Since 2022, forecasts have warned of cascading military and political upheavals that could overwhelm the global economy's shock-absorbing capacity. Despite these warnings, the most destructive scenarios have not yet materialized. However, the adaptive mechanisms behind this resilience are not as robust as they appear. Diversified energy corridors, rerouted trade, and re-engineered international monetary systems have contributed to the economy's resilience, but these measures are also a source of compounding costs. Global debt, encompassing government, household, corporate, and financial sectors, has surpassed $365 trillion in the first half of 2026, with emerging-market debt increasing by $6.5 trillion. This growing debt burden narrows fiscal space available for absorbing future shocks, particularly military or geopolitical events. The World Gold Council's 2026 Central Bank Gold Reserves survey reveals that 89 percent of central banks expect gold holdings to rise in the coming year, with a record share planning to increase their own reserves. This shift has been driven by concerns over the seizure of Russia's central bank reserves at the start of the Ukraine war. As a result, gold has overtaken US Treasuries as the largest single component of global central bank reserves. The $40 trillion US federal debt, with US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent working to address it, represents the third strand of the economy's challenges. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has also led to the freezing of $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets globally, which has been used to support the EU's €140 billion reparations loan to Ukraine. The erosion of neutrality in the system, as exemplified by the WTO's non-functional Appellate Body, further underscores the interconnectedness of these factors and the need for the West to recognize the illusion of economic resilience.",
  "summary": "The resilience of the world economy is built on illusion - it's time the West woke up Submitted by Marco Carnelos on Sun, 10/11/2026 - 15:30 Record debt, a paralysed trade-dispute architecture and the normalisation of sovereign-asset seizure as a policy tool means fragility is baked into the global economic system In his Davos speech this year, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recognised that…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}