Welcome to the inquiry on the BBC World Service. I'm Tanya Beckett. Each week one question,

four expert witnesses and an answer. dealt by coronavirus, as many stand on the brink of a recession tipped to be the worst since the 1930s.

Debts are projected to climb to nearly three and a half times the size of the world economy.

In the UK, the man in charge of opening the fiscal floodgates

is a relative newcomer to politics.

A Conservative Chancellor would normally be expected to keep the purse strings tight,

but Rishi Sunak has been applauded for launching a massive spending spree aimed at keeping workers in their jobs.

But what will happen when the spending grinds to a halt and countries are forced to take a step back and look at their debts.

This week we're asking how will the world pay for COVID-19?

Part 1, The Joy of Debt of debt. I'm Jonathan Portis, I'm Professor of Economics and Public Policy at King's College London. Our first expert witness says that balloon in government debts are a natural consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic for two reasons.

The first is because tax revenues will fall.

Company profits are under pressure,

unemployment is rising and people are earning less so far less tax is making its way

into state coffers. And the second is because governments have put in place

various policies to try and limit the damage

to try and stop firms going out of business and too many workers becoming unemployed.

In other words, a lot of money is being spent trying to contain the problem.

But, says our expert witness, we should view the borrowings we're building up as money well spent to avoid the

alternative an even greater economic catastrophe. The rise in debt is very

very much a price worth paying to avoid the long-term damage to our economies

that would happen if we let unemployment go out of control or lots and lots of

businesses to go bust.

...