The world is facing a "fifth wave of debt crisis," World Bank President David Malpass warned Friday, calling for more support for countries in distress.

The pandemic forced many countries to take on more borrowing, and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have warned that many are already facing or at risk of debt distress amid soaring global inflation and rising interest rates.

"I'm worried about the debt levels, worried about the individual countries," Malpass told reporters.

"In 2022 alone, around $44 billion in debt service payments from bilateral and private debt service have become due" in some of the poorest countries, bigger than the foreign aid flows the countries could hope for, he said.

"Right now we're in the midst of what I think is a fifth wave of debt crisis."

His comments to reporters came on the eve of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings.

The world economy is grappling with surging inflation and rising interest rates that threaten to ripple around the globe and derail nascent recoveries.

Some observers have warned that aggressive interest rate hikes by major economies could trigger a global recession, but policymakers say allowing high inflation to take hold would be even worse.

"It's very important, as we face these financial crises around the developing world, that we recognize the supreme importance of the advanced economies in terms of restoring growth and moving towards a faster growth environment," Malpass, who is also a former U.S. Treasury official, said.

Developing countries also need more capital flows, and although the World Bank is expanding help for countries, it is "simply not enough," he added.

According to the World Bank, there have been four waves of debt accumulation in the global economy since 1970, and have generally sparked financial crises in many emerging and developing economies.

Read more: Monetary policy moves in rich countries may trigger global recession: UN agency

(Sources: AFP, Reuters with edits)