(Bloomberg) -- A cry for more government spending to support growth is already emerging as a key theme as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings get underway in Washington.

Also on the minds of global finance chiefs -- with a possible Brexit agreement on the horizon -- is the potential impact of the U.K.’s divorce from the European Union as economies face trade tensions and a declining growth outlook.

Georgieva Says Brexit Deal ‘Good News’ (10:10 a.m.)

Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s managing director, called on all sides to bring the emerging Brexit agreement over the finish line.

“Very similar to the pound, which jumped, I saw the news and jumped,” Georgieva, a former EU budget commissioner, said at a news conference in Washington. “Great! We would like to see the agreement being reached. My hope for the next few days is that the will holds in all quarters.”

A no-deal exit could cost the U.K. economy “3.5% or more, up to 5% loss of GDP,” while the EU’s hit would be half a percentage point, Georgieva said.

The IMF head also stepped into the debate about low interest rates and if governments need to spend more to spur growth and ease the burden on central banks.

“Now is the time for countries with room in their budget to deploy or get ready to deploy fiscal firepower,” she said.

Gaspar Cites Risk of High Global Debt (8:09 a.m.)

A flavor of the debate was captured in an early exchange between Vitor Gaspar, Director of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department, and Jason Furman, Harvard University academic and former adviser to President Barack Obama.

Gaspar highlighted IMF figures that show the world is swimming in $188 trillion of debt or 226% of world GDP. While the picture varies from country to country, just because interest rates are low now doesn’t mean there aren’t risks associated with borrowing.

Furman said the focus should be on the cost of servicing debt, rather than the outright amount, and used the U.S. as an example -- where overall interest payments as a share of the economy are moderate.

There was one topic both agreed on: Germany needs to spend more.

“You look at Germany and the role it is playing in the synchronized slowdown given the importance of manufacturing, the importance of exports, the importance of autos, there is no debating that Germany has fiscal space,” Furman told Bloomberg Television on Thursday. “The fact that they are not doing a fiscal expansion right now should be just as much a worry for the global economy as a lot of the high debt issues that we are talking about.”

Gaspar didn’t disagree, and pointed to sectors including green energy and the digital economy that would spur growth if the government unleashed investment. “We have been arguing that indeed Germany has fiscal space,” he said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Enda Curran in Hong Kong at ecurran8@bloomberg.net;Jeff Kearns in Washington at jkearns3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Tony Czuczka

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