New online resource spotlights debt statistics news and trends

We're thrilled to share the news about our brand new Online Quarterly Bulletin, which features debt statistics news, trends, and events. Laid out in the format of an e-newsletter, this quarter's issue focuses on:

• Debt statistics products, coverage, and methodologies
• External debt trends of 2015
• International debt statistics-related activities and summaries

One area we'd like to highlight is the interconnection of the many types of debt statistics that the World Bank collects, manages, and disseminates.
 
The World Bank collects annual external debt statistics through the World Bank Debt Reporting System (DRS) and publishes it annually in the  International Debt Statistics (IDS) publication. This annual data is complemented by our quarterly external and public debt statistics captured through the  Quarterly External Debt Statistics (QEDS) database and the Public Sector Debt (PSD) database.  To help illustrate this interconnection, we've created the below graphic.
 

 

Also in this inaugural issue, we point to a noteworthy trend: there was a 3% decline in short-term external debt stocks, compared to the 2014 figures. The top ten borrowers (Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, and Turkey) account for this drop, largely because of a sharp contraction in their collective short-term external debt.
 
The chart below shows that these ten countries saw an average of a 12% decrease in their short-term external debt in the last three quarters, compared to a 1% increase in their long-term external debt.
 
The top ten borrowers drive the 3% decline in external debt

(Percentage change in external debt from December 2014 to September 2015: by country, top ten borrowers, and all countries)
 
To read more about trends in external debt and public sector borrowing, check out our first edition of the Online Quarterly Bulletin.
 
And please be sure to follow us on Twitter at @worldbankdata