IDA blend - Short-term debt (% of total reserves)

Short-term debt (% of total reserves) in IDA blend was 23.61 as of 2020. Its highest value over the past 50 years was 253.90 in 1992, while its lowest value was 6.43 in 2009.

Definition: Short-term debt includes all debt having an original maturity of one year or less and interest in arrears on long-term debt. Total reserves includes gold.

Source: World Bank, International Debt Statistics.

See also:

Year Value
1970 56.69
1971 54.85
1972 53.53
1973 49.37
1974 13.75
1975 14.02
1976 12.94
1977 48.31
1978 85.75
1979 40.76
1980 40.02
1981 95.36
1982 97.25
1983 134.02
1984 173.82
1985 171.72
1986 176.55
1987 145.93
1988 169.44
1989 120.56
1990 120.70
1991 113.51
1992 253.90
1993 180.11
1994 131.30
1995 193.87
1996 136.55
1997 102.55
1998 118.19
1999 113.42
2000 42.41
2001 29.42
2002 32.37
2003 31.60
2004 27.07
2005 10.10
2006 7.65
2007 7.59
2008 6.81
2009 6.43
2010 12.60
2011 10.90
2012 12.50
2013 13.41
2014 14.71
2015 17.19
2016 17.73
2017 22.03
2018 22.12
2019 24.42
2020 23.61

Development Relevance: External debt is that part of the total debt in a country that is owed to creditors outside the country. The debtors can be the government, corporations or private households. The debt includes money owed to private commercial banks, other governments, or international financial institutions. External indebtedness affects a country's creditworthiness and investor perceptions. Nonreporting countries might have outstanding debt with the World Bank, other international financial institutions, or private creditors. Total debt service is contrasted with countries' ability to obtain foreign exchange through exports of goods, services, primary income, and workers' remittances. Debt ratios are used to assess the sustainability of a country's debt service obligations, but no absolute rules determine what values are too high. Empirical analysis of developing countries' experience and debt service performance shows that debt service difficulties become increasingly likely when the present value of debt reaches 200 percent of exports. Still, what constitutes a sustainable debt burden varies by country. Countries with fast-growing economies and exports are likely to be able to sustain higher debt levels. Various indicators determine a sustainable level of external debt, including: a) debt to GDP ratio b) foreign debt to exports ratio c) government debt to current fiscal revenue ratio d) share of foreign debt e) short-term debt f) concessional debt in the total debt stock

Limitations and Exceptions: The DRS encourages debtor countries to voluntarily provide information on their short-term external obligations. By its nature, short-term external debt is difficult to monitor: loan-by-loan registration is normally impractical, and monitoring systems typically rely on information requested periodically by the central bank from the banking sector. The World Bank regards the debtor country as the authoritative source of information on its short-term debt. Where such information is not available from the debtor country, data are derived from BIS data on international bank lending based on time remaining to original maturity. The data are reported based on residual maturity, but an estimate of short-term external liabilities by original maturity can be derived by deducting from claims due in one year those that have a maturity of between one and two years. However, BIS data include liabilities reported only by banks within the BIS reporting area. The results should thus be interpreted with caution. Because short-term debt poses an immediate burden and is particularly important for monitoring vulnerability, it is compared with total debt and foreign exchange reserves, which are instrumental in providing coverage for such obligations. A country's external debt burden, both debt outstanding and debt service, affects its creditworthiness and vulnerability. While data related to public and publicly guaranteed debt are reported to the DRS on a loan-by-loan basis, aggregate data on long-term private nonguaranteed debt are reported annually and are reported by the country or estimated by World Bank staff for countries where this type of external debt is known to be significant. Estimates are based on national data from the World Bank's Quarterly External Debt Statistics.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Data on external debt are gathered through the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS). Long term debt data are compiled using the countries report on public and publicly guaranteed borrowing on a loan-by-loan basis and private non guaranteed borrowing on an aggregate basis. These data are supplemented by information from major multilateral banks and official lending agencies in major creditor countries. Short-term debt data are gathered from the Quarterly External Debt Statistics (QEDS) database, jointly developed by the World Bank and the IMF and from creditors through the reporting systems of the Bank for International Settlements. Debt data are reported in the currency of repayment and compiled and published in U.S. dollars. End-of-period exchange rates are used for the compilation of stock figures (amount of debt outstanding), and projected debt service and annual average exchange rates are used for the flows. Exchange rates are taken from the IMF's International Financial Statistics. Debt repayable in multiple currencies, goods, or services and debt with a provision for maintenance of the value of the currency of repayment are shown at book value.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Economic Policy & Debt Indicators

Sub-Topic: External debt