[IMF Data: U.S. Government Total Debt to Rise Over 20 Percentage Points from Current Levels, Reaching 143.4% of GDP by the End of This Decade] Odaily Planet Daily News – According to the Financial Times, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that the U.S. government's debt burden may surpass the levels of Italy and Greece for the first time this century, highlighting the severe state of U.S. public finances. The IMF forecast indicates that the U.S. government’s total debt will rise over 20 percentage points from current levels, reaching 143.4% of GDP by the end of this decade, exceeding the historical record set after the pandemic. Meanwhile, the IMF estimates that until 2030, the U.S. budget deficit as a percentage of GDP will hover above 7% annually—marking the highest deficit level among all wealthy nations tracked by the organization for this year and the remainder of the decade. Italy and Greece have long drawn attention from economists due to their fragile public finances. However, as both countries continue to strictly control budget deficits, their government debt burdens are expected to show a downward trend by the end of this decade. In contrast, data shows that by 2030, the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio will continue to climb. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that this ratio will keep rising for decades thereafter.