Inflation may be on the retreat, but growth is slowing and debt is rising as the West and China square off ever more directly.

Last year's IMF and World Bank annual meetings got underway in Morocco as the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and unleashing conflicts with a death toll of more than 40,000 Gazans, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Global finance leaders gather today in Washington, D.C., for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The elephant in the room will be the potential for an election victory by Donald Trump to upend the international economic system with massive new US tariffs.