Last week, finance ministers and central bank officials from around the world discussed the biggest risks facing the global economy in Bangkok, with debt, artificial intelligence, and trade imbalances being at the center of the discussion. Meanwhile, China, which has long been considered a major risk factor, is no longer among the top concerns.

1. Pay attention to financial crisis risks

The Bangkok meeting is the first IMF and World Bank Annual Conference to be held in Asia since 2018. The 2018 conference was held in Bali, Indonesia. Thailand last hosted this event in 1991, which was six years before the Thai baht decoupled from the US dollar, triggering the Asian financial crisis.

As we move into 2026, Kevin Gallagher ( Kevin Gallagher ), the Director of the Center for Global Development Policy at Boston University, stated to reporters in Beijing after attending the IMF and World Bank meetings that a range of issues, from global imbalances and the boom in artificial intelligence to the large-scale accumulation of debt in the "Global North," could trigger the next financial crisis.

IMF holds an optimistic attitude towards economies that are expected to benefit from the global AI supply chain, such as South Korea, Japan, and China; however, it is more pessimistic about those that cannot benefit, warning that the construction of AI is widening the gap between various economies.

Lending related to AI is also contributing to rising debt levels and competing with the government for capital, thereby further increasing borrowing costs. IMF warns that if AI technology fails to deliver the promised increase in productivity, it could lead to serious global economic consequences.

Gallagher stated that he is watching to see whether IMF, the Federal Reserve, and the People's Bank of China will be able to coordinate their actions, or whether they will move in different directions and "make things worse."

The U.S. Treasury Department and IMF have disagreements regarding the issue of the United States' own debt. President Kristalina Georgieva of IMF stated that strong growth alone cannot put the United States on a sustainable path, as the federal debt has exceeded $40 trillion. David Zervos, an advisor to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent of Scott Bessent, refuted this warning. He said, "It's a good thing to remember how chaotic their past predictions were. So we should discount all such claims."

There are also few signs of coordination. According to the seating arrangement seen by CNBC, at the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors held in Bangkok on Thursday, Chinese and American financial officials sat apart from each other.

Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China, stated on Saturday at the International Monetary and Financial Committee that China supports IMF in strengthening supervision over the "spillover effects of fiscal risks from major developed economies." He said that countries should address their own fiscal deficit issues, while those with surpluses should boost consumption and investment.

2. Ukraine has once again become the core focus

As tensions rise, Russia and Ukraine once again become the core topics of this week's meetings. Last Thursday, during the G20 Finance Ministers' Meeting held on the side of the IMF Annual Conference, Russian officials reappeared in the venue.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov (Anton Siluanov) attended the meeting in person for the second time this year. Previously, in August, at the G20 meeting held in Asheville, North Carolina, he was unable to participate in the group photo due to strong criticism from European leaders.

German Finance Minister Lars Klinbauer ( Lars Klingbeil ) once again expressed his dissatisfaction with the presence of the Russian delegation. In a statement sent to CNBC, he said: "To pretend that Russia is returning to the table as a normal member of G20 – that will not happen with me, nor with any other Europeans."

According to Reuters, on Saturday when Siluanov spoke in Russian, nearly half of the IMFC representatives left the meeting. Andriy Pishnev ( Andriy Pyshnyi ), the governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, told Reuters that he was surprised by so many financial officials expressing their support for Ukraine, calling it "a profound and touching moment."

After a three-hour meeting on Thursday evening, the G7 announced that it would provide Ukraine with 260 million euros (about 300 million US dollars) to repair the infrastructure of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and plans to raise this amount to 500 million euros at a donors' conference to be held in Paris next month – which should be sufficient to cover the costs of the entire project.

IMF warns that the rising public debt is squeezing the spending space of governments around the world on priorities such as national defense.

3. China falls to a secondary position

During the 2018 IMF conference, China was a focal point of discussion, as the Sino-US trade war had just begun at that time. However, this year, China was hardly mentioned in the discussions and interviews of the relevant groups.

Tim Adams, President and CEO of the International Finance Association ( Institute of International Finance ) headquartered in Washington, stated that during his recent exchanges in Singapore and Bangkok, China was rarely mentioned.

"If it were in the past, we would have spent a lot of time discussing Sino-US relations, the impact of China's 'Export Shock 2.0' on Europe, and the impact of China on global trade and manufacturing. But in reality, we hardly discussed any of these topics at all," Adams said in an interview with CNBC on Friday.

He stated that the reason is that Sino-US relations seem to have reached a "certain state of stability," which has reduced investors' concerns about risks associated with China.

"The market's view is that this relationship is stable and strong, with no significant tensions aside from those issues that have been present for some time and are causing concern," Adams said.

He said that investors are still reluctant to make direct investments in China, but they are very interested in the Chinese technology company IPO that is about to go public. He also mentioned that there is a clear demand for Chinese bonds in the market, and the RMB exchange rate has remained stable, even showing a slight strengthening.

"This seems more like a standard, regular assessment, as if China is just one of the ordinary risks, rather than some unique and special entity," said Adams.

Penny Chen of CNBC has contributed to this report.