Wealthy west has little excuse after finally waking up to global debt crisis

Place de Le Nation in N'Djamena, Chad, which is the only country so far to receive any debt relief under the G20’s common framework for debt treatments. Photograph: Sunday Alamba/AP

After a decade or more in which they have been obsessed with their own problems, countries in the wealthy west are starting to wake up to the risk of a looming debt crisis in poorer parts of the world.

This week’s gathering of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington has been marked by a discussion about what to do about countries that are in debt distress or on the brink of it.