International Seminar on Timeliness, Methodology amd Comparability of Rapid
Estimates of Economic Trends, 27-29 May 2009, Ottawa, Canada
Joint WB-IMF Initiative on Quarterly External Debt Statistics
Ibrahim Levent
World Bank
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Quarterly External Debt Statistics (QEDS)
The Quarterly External Debt Statistics (QEDS) database,
jointly developed by the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund, brings together detailed external debt data of
countries that subscribe to the IMF’s Special Data
Dissemination Standard (SDDS) and a selected number of
countries that participate in the IMF’s General Data
Dissemination System (GDDS).
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Scope of Bank-IMF project on quarterly debt statistics
The aim of the project is to:
(1) Facilitate the dissemination in standard formats of external
debt data published individually by subscribers.
A set of comprehensive debt tables for each subscribing
country.
(2) Provide easy access to cross-country quarterly debt data for
macroeconomic analysis.
Availability of consistent cross-country information for a
large number of countries.
A facility to query and extract data by country, debt
indicator, and time period.
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Purpose of this seminar
• Analyst and policy makers urgently need
high frequency statistics which are timely,
reliable and comparable over time and
between countries and regions to monitor
the development of the crisis for their
synchronized policy actions.
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Background
Motivation for QEDS
- In the aftermath of the Asian crisis there was an increased focus on
crisis prevention and management.
- With respect to crisis prevention there was a consensus on the need
for better financial information.
- Consequently, the TFFS undertook several initiatives to promote better
availability of debt data.
- Joint External Debt Statistics (creditor-side data)
- Debt Guide
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TFFS
 Task Force on Finance Statistics (TFFS)
 The Task Force on Finance Statistics (TFFS) sets methodological standards for
statistics on external debt, and on public debt, both external and domestic; promotes
data availability on financial stocks, particularly external debt; encourages
internationally accepted statistical practices to enhance data quality; and fosters interagency collaboration in statistical capacity building.
 The TFFS was created in 1992 under the auspices of the United Nations Statistical
Commission to take stock of the activities of the international organizations involved
in finance statistics and to make recommendations aimed at streamlining their work,
in particular to avoid duplication of activities.
 In the wake of the financial crises of the mid-1990’s, its mandate was broadened in
1998, to coordinate work to improve the methodological soundness, transparency,
timeliness, and availability of data on external debt and international reserves. To
facilitate access, the data are posted on the Joint External Debt Hub (JEDH).

The current members of the TFFS are the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the Commonwealth
Secretariat (ComSec), the European Central Bank (ECB), Eurostat, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Paris Club Secretariat, the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the World Bank. It is chaired by the Statistics Department
of the IMF.
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Background
May 2002 TFFS meeting:
- Members address for the first time the need for a centralized database for
external debt statistics of SDDS subscribers.
- WB supports establishment of a centralized database; indicates willingness to
implement and maintain the database.
Sept 2003 TFFS meeting:
- WB presents a draft proposal for a SDDS-based centralized database.
Members support the proposal.
December 2003:
-WB and IMF begin collaboration on a project to bring together quarterly debt
statistics of SDDS subscribers in a centralized database.
November 2004:
- WB-IMF release the quarterly external debt statistics (QEDS).
November/December 2005:
-WB-IMF invite selected non-SDDS subscribers to participate in QEDS.
August 2007:
-WB-IMF invite GDDS countries to participate in QEDS.
February 2008:
-QEDS is expanded to General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) countries,
mainly Low-Income Countries (LICs).
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Project phases
The project can be viewed as comprised five phases:
 Phase I - designing standardized debt data templates for data
collection.
 Phase II - informing SDDS subscribers about the joint Bank-IMF
project; and asking them for comments and their support
also informing some Non-SDDDS countries.
 Phase III – developing a data collection tool and implementing data
reporting.
 Phase IV - disseminating the centralized database.
 Phase V- Expansion of the database to GDDS participants.
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Phase I – designing debt data templates
A main goal of the joint Bank-IMF project on debt statistics is to
facilitate dissemination of debt data in standard formats that are
aligned with the model presentations in the External Debt Guide.
Thus, the initial phase of the project focused on designing
standard debt tables that could be used for data collection.
Two sets of tables were developed:
- The first set consists of three tables based on the SDDS
prescribed external debt data category (table 1) and encouraged
debt data categories (tables 2 and 3).
- The second set comprises supplementary tables that go beyond
the SDDS to provide further analytical presentations—particularly
with respect to sectoral data—and facilitate cross-country data
analysis.
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Templates for external debt data
SDDS Tables: Prescribed and encouraged items
Table 1: Gross external debt position by sector (prescribed
item)
Table 2: Gross external debt position: foreign currency and
domestic currency debt (encouraged item)
Table 3: Debt service payment schedule for outstanding
external debt (encouraged item)
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Templates for external debt data
Supplementary Tables (6)
Table 1.1: Gross external debt position – traded debt
instruments (reconciliation between nominal & market value)
Table 1.2: Gross external debt position- other sectors
(additional breakdown to table 1)
Table 1.3: Gross external debt position: public sector debt
and publicly guaranteed private sector debt (focus on PPG
debt)
Table 1.4: Gross external debt position: arrears
Table 2.1: Gross external foreign currency and foreign
currency linked debt position
Table 3.1: Gross external debt position: short-term remaining
maturity by sector
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Phase II – informing SDDS subscribers of project and subscriber
responses
In early March 2004, the World Bank and the IMF wrote a letter to
SDDS subscribers to inform them of the initiative and to solicit
their support.
By the beginning of May, 47 out of 57 SDSS subscribers had
responded to the letter.
- Virtually all respondents indicated their willingness to provide Table
1 (gross external debt position by sector).
- 19 countries indicated that they would be able to provide Table 2
(foreign currency and domestic currency external debt split), and
seven countries indicated that they could provide Table 3 (debt
service payment schedule).
-15 countries replied that they would be able to provide at least one
of the six supplementary tables, and 20 countries noted that they
might be able to provide additional tables subject to resource
availability.
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Non-SDDS countries invited to participate
Extended the quarterly external debt database to
include non-SDDS countries.
There are several non-SDDS countries that are either already
producing data according to the methodology of the Debt Guide or
have the capacity to produce such data--these countries have
comprehensive IIPs.
Several non-SDDS were invited to participate in QEDS –
Azerbaijan, Bolivia, New Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, Yemen.
Address the issue of greater availability of data from
SDDS countries.
While all participating countries are providing data for table 1 of the
template, data provision for other tables is mixed.
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Phase III – data collection
To facilitate data collection the Bank developed a data collection tool
based on tables 1-3 as well as the accompanying supplementary tables.
The data collection tool also incorporated essential features such as
data exchange methods, validation rules, and reporting currency option.
The approach on data exchange methods was to accommodate the
specific situation of each country, as well as adapt to future
improvements in data exchange standards.
-The standard method of data exchange involves directly collecting
data from countries in Excel format.
- Over the medium term, the data collection process is likely to
change so that data can be obtained from countries’ web sites
based on SDMX standards (www.sdmx.org).
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Data collection system now and in the medium term
Data collection
in the near term
Data collected
directly from
country
Country A
Data collection
in the medium term
Data to be obtained
from country
web site
World Bank
Country A (Web)
Country B
Country B (Web)
Country C
Country C (Web)
Country
Country (Web)
CrossCountry
Database
Dissemination of
cross-cty data
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Phase IV – data dissemination
The Bank developed a data dissemination tool,
the key features of which are:
Country tables – show the quarterly external debt
of a country.
 Cross-country tables – facilitates country
comparisons and analysis by providing direct
access to pre-formatted tables.
 A query tool for data retrieval – allows users to
extract data in different ways.

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Current Reporters
- Currently, 58 SDDS subscribing countries and three GDDS
countries have agreed to participate in the SDDS/QEDS
database. 25 countries provide Table 2 (foreign currency
and domestic currency external debt split), 10 provide
Table 3 (debt service payment schedule), 26 countries
provide at least one of the six supplementary tables.
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Phase V -Extending QEDS to GDDS participants
The initiative focuses on the Capacity of LICs to produce
high frequency data.
 The database was expanded to General Data
Dissemination System (GDDS) countries on February
27, 2008 mainly Low-Income Countries (LICs).
- Required items for participation—public and publiclyguaranteed external debt position data broken down by
maturity.
-Encouraged items are in line with the GDDS including
external debt-service payment schedule, creditor sector
information, and the external debt position data broken
by type of instrument.
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Phase V -Extending QEDS to GDDS participants
 Needed to identify a priority list of countries for the initial phase of the
project—essentially 27 post-completion point HIPCs and other
countries such as Angola and Nigeria that are attracting foreign capital
from the list of 77 LICs that subscribe to the Fund’s General Data
Dissemination Standards. At the next phase, all LICs were invited.
 Initially 14, currently 21 Low-Income Countries (LICs) agreed to
provide data to the GDDS/QEDS database.
 The initiative responds to the need for timely and high-quality external
debt data for LICs in the context of the debt sustainability framework for
these countries (see the Joint IMF/WB paper on Application of the Debt
Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries Post Debt Relief).

Key phases of the project – designed the external debt data template;
informed low-income country authorities of the initiative and asked
them for their comments and support; developed the data collection
tool; and started to disseminate the QEDS data for LICs.
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Phase V -Extending QEDS to GDDS participants
Templates for external debt data
 GDDS Tables: Prescribed and encouraged items
 Table 1: Gross External Debt Position: Public and PubliclyGuaranteed Debt (prescribed)
Data for the memorandum item in Table 1 (nonguaranteed private sector external
debt) are not required for participation, although—if available—data are
encouraged to be disseminated at least once yearly.
 Table 2: Debt-Service Payment Schedule for Public and PubliclyGuaranteed External Debt as of End-Period (encouraged item)
 Table 3: Public and Publicly-Guaranteed External Debt: Creditor
Sector Information (encouraged item)
 Table 4: Gross External Debt Position: Public and PubliclyGuaranteed Debt by Instrument Breakdown (encouraged item)
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Low-Income Countries
Bolivia reports under both SDDS and GDDS category
Georgia committed to report under GDDS and also
reported under SDDS
Paraguay reports to QEDS under SDDS
Yemen was invited to participate in QEDS under SDDS
and GDDS. Currently, reports under GDDS.
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The Joint External Debt Hub (JEDH)
 Jointly developed by the Bank for International
Settlement, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) and the World Bank (WB)—brings
together quarterly external debt data and selected
foreign assets from international creditor/market and
national debtor sources.
 www.jedh.org (powered by SDMX)
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JEHD extension
 The creditor/market tables have been extended to incorporate
additional information;
 - data on insured export credit exposures are now available.
Following extensive work with the BIS, the Berne Union
(International Union of Credit and Investment Insurers) provides
quarterly data collected from its members for dissemination on the
JEDH, as supplementary information to other data collected from
creditor or market sources.
 - the creditor/market tables now display “Total liabilities to BIS
reporting banks” both for the locational and the consolidated
statistics, as in the previous table of the Joint BIS-IMF-OECD-World
Bank website.
 Metadata can now be accessed directly by clicking on the
corresponding lines of the creditor/market tables.
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http://www.worldbank.org/qeds
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Thank you.
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