For more than five decades, the World Bank’s premier annual publication on debt, now titled the International Debt Report (IDR), along with the associated International Debt Statistics (IDS) database, has helped shape policies in development finance by sharing timely and comprehensive external debt data and analysis with the international community.

Drawing on data collected through the World Bank’s Debtor Reporting System, this publication has kept pace with evolving borrowing patterns and new lending instruments, measured the impact of initiatives to relieve debt burdens, and promoted best practices in debt recording and reporting. Each year the report presents an analysis of evolving trends in external debt stocks and flows of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), as well as issues and challenges for development finance.

The IDS database provides comprehensive information on external debt stocks and flows of public and private borrowers in LMICs (by borrower and creditor), the terms on which external loans are contracted, current and future debt service, and debt indicators in relation to key economic variables.

Report by the World Bank