An increasing number of countries could default on their debt in the coming 12-18 months as governments globally increase spending to limit the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic, an economist said on Wednesday.

"I do think we will see some issues there, possibly we could see a euro zone crisis come back with countries like Greece or Italy ... likely to be at the center of that," Simon Baptist, global chief economist at consultancy The Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC's "Capital Connection."

"Across the emerging world, I'll pick out countries like South Africa and Brazil as being likely to suffer a further crisis as a result of this," he added. "And, of course, Argentina has effectively gone back into sovereign default already."

The coronavirus, which has infected more than 1.9 million people globally, has caused governments to take unprecedented actions to lock down entire countries or cities — bringing much of the world's economic activity to a halt.