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IMF Chief Calls For Reforms As EU Debt Pressures Mount

IMF Chief’s Stark Warning

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has warned that public debt across the European Union could exceed 130% of GDP by 2040 without policy action to address mounting fiscal pressures.

Drivers Of Rising Debt

Several factors are expected to contribute to higher debt levels, including rising pension liabilities, growing healthcare costs linked to ageing populations and investments required for the energy transition.

Higher defence spending is also expected to weigh on public finances. According to Georgieva, increased defence expenditures could add around 5 percentage points of GDP by 2040. For countries with limited fiscal space, meeting defence targets may require difficult choices, including tax increases or reductions in other areas of spending.

Structural Reforms And Growth Prospects

Georgieva said structural reforms aimed at deepening the single European market and supporting economic growth will be critical in mitigating debt pressures. According to the latest IMF Fiscal Monitor, even modest improvements in growth could reduce the scale of fiscal adjustments required. Current projections indicate that eurozone public debt will rise from 87.1% of GDP in 2025 to 89.7% by 2031, underscoring the importance of measures to strengthen long-term growth.

Selective Bright Spots Amid Challenges

Not all EU member states are expected to follow the same trajectory. Countries including Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Portugal are projected to diverge from the broader trend to varying degrees. Among them, Cyprus is forecast to record growth of 3.8% in 2025 and 3.0% in 2026, placing it among the stronger-performing economies in the region despite ongoing geopolitical risks.

Outlook For European Finances

The IMF’s projections highlight the challenges facing European governments as they balance rising spending needs with efforts to maintain sustainable public finances. Future debt trajectories will depend on economic growth, fiscal policy decisions and the pace of structural reforms across the bloc.

Mirendil Signs $100 Million Google Cloud Deal To Advance Self-Improving AI

AI startup Mirendil has signed a multi-year agreement worth more than $100 million with Google Cloud to secure computing infrastructure for its self-improving AI research.

The partnership reflects growing competition among AI companies to lock in access to high-performance computing, while cloud providers race to attract promising startups developing next-generation AI models.

Backing The Next Stage Of AI Research

Mirendil plans to use Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), Nvidia GPUs and managed training infrastructure to develop AI systems capable of improving their own performance over time.

Known as recursive self-improvement, the concept focuses on building AI that can refine its knowledge and capabilities with minimal human intervention. The technology is attracting growing interest across the industry, with several startups and leading AI labs exploring similar approaches.

According to co-founder and Chief Executive Behnam Neyshabur, the long-term goal is to develop AI that can automate scientific research and accelerate discoveries in fields such as medicine, biology and materials science.

Compute Capacity Becomes A Strategic Asset

Training increasingly advanced AI models requires enormous computing resources, making long-term infrastructure agreements a critical competitive advantage.

Mirendil said Google’s combination of TPUs and GPUs allows workloads to be matched with the most suitable hardware, improving efficiency while reducing costs for customers.

For Google Cloud, the agreement strengthens its position in the race to provide infrastructure for frontier AI developers, while giving the company exposure to one of the industry’s emerging approaches to next-generation artificial intelligence.

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