Definitions
From The World Bank: Global Development Finance For all regional,
income, and individual country tables, data definitions are presented below or footnoted
where appropriate. Data definitions for other summary tables are, likewise, consistent
with those below.
Summary debt data
Total Debt Stocks are defined as the sum of public and publicly guaranteed
long-term debt, private nonguaranteed long-term debt, the use of IMF credit, and
short-term debt. The relation between total debt stock and its components is illustrated
on page xx.
Long-term external debt is defined as debt that has an original or extended
maturity of more than one year and that is owed to nonresidents and repayable in foreign
currency, goods, or services. Long-term debt has three components:
- Public debt, which is an external obligation of a public debtor, including the
national government, a political subdivision (or an agency of either), and autonomous
public bodies
- Publicly guaranteed debt, which is an external obligation of a private debtor
that is guaranteed for repayment by a public entity
- Private nonguaranteed external debt, which is an external obligation of a private
debtor that is not guaranteed for repayment by a public entity.
In the tables, public and publicly guaranteed long-term debt are aggregated.
Short-term external debt is defined as debt that has an original maturity of one
year or less. Available data permit no distinction between public and private
nonguaranteed short-term debt.
Interest in arrears on long-term debt is defined as interest payment due but not
paid, on a cumulative basis.
Principal in arrears on long-term debt is defined as principal repayment due but
not paid, on a cumulative basis.
The memorandum item export credits includes official export credits,
suppliers credits, and bank credits officially guaranteed or insured by an export
credit agency. Both long-term and short-term credits are included here.
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Use of IMF credit denotes repurchase obligations to the IMF with respect to all
uses of IMF resources (excluding those resulting from drawings in the reserve tranche)
shown for the end of the year specified. Use of IMF credit comprises purchases outstanding
under the credit tranches, including enlarged access resources and all special facilities
(the buffer stock, compensatory financing, extended fund, and oil facilities), trust fund
loans, and operations under the structural adjustment and enhanced structural adjustment
facilities. Data are from the Treasurers Department of the IMF.
- IMF purchases are total drawings on the general resources account of the IMF
during the year specified, excluding drawings in the reserve tranche.
- IMF repurchases are total repayments of outstanding drawings from the general
resources account during the year specified, excluding repayments due in the reserve
tranche.
To maintain comparability between data on transactions with the IMF and data on
long-term debt, use of IMF credit outstanding at year end (stock) is converted to dollars
at the SDR exchange rate in effect at the end of the year. Purchases and repurchases
(flows) are converted at the average SDR exchange rate for the year in which transactions
take place.
Net purchases will usually not reconcile changes in the use of IMF credit from year to
year. Valuation effects from the use of different exchange rates frequently explain much
of the difference, but not all. Other factors are increases in quotas (which expand a
countrys reserve tranche and can thereby lower the use of IMF credit as defined
here), approved purchases of a countrys currency by another member country drawing
on the general resources account, and various administrative uses of a countrys
currency by the IMF.
Total Debt Flows include disbursements, principal repayments, net flows and
transfers on debt, and interest payments.
Disbursements are drawings on loan commitments during the year specified.
Principal repayments are the amounts of principal (amortization) paid in foreign
currency, goods, or services in the year specified.
Net flows on debts (or net lending or net disbursements) are disbursements minus
principal repayments.
Interest payments are the amounts of interest paid in foreign currency, goods,
or services in the year specified.
Net transfers on debt are net flows minus interest payments (or disbursements
minus total debt service payments).
The concepts of net flows on debt, net transfers on debt, and aggregate net flows and
net transfers are illustrated on pages xxi and xxii.
Total debt service paid (TDS) is debt service payments on total long-term debt
(public and publicly guaranteed and private nonguaranteed), use of IMF credit, and
interest on short-term debt.
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Aggregate
net resource flows and transfers
Net Resources Flows (long-term) are the sum of net resource flows on long-term
debt (excluding IMF) plus non-debt-creating flows.
Non-debt-creating Flows are net foreign direct investment, portfolio equity
flows, and official grants (excluding technical cooperation). Net foreign direct
investment and portfolio equity flows are treated as private source flows. Grants for
technical cooperation are shown as a memorandum item.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) is defined as investment that is made to acquire
a lasting management interest (usually 10 percent of voting stock) in an enterprise
operating in a country other than that of the investor (defined according to residency),
the investors purpose being an effective voice in the management of the enterprise.
It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, other long-term capital, and
short-term capital as shown in the balance of payments.
Portfolio equity flows are the sum of country funds, depository receipts
(American or global), and direct purchases of shares by foreign investors.
Grants are defined as legally binding commitments that obligate a specific value
of funds available for disbursement for which there is no repayment requirement.
The memo item technical cooperation grants includes free-standing technical
cooperation grants, which are intended to finance the transfer of technical and managerial
skills or of technology for the purpose of building up general national capacity without
reference to any specific investment projects; and investment-related technical
cooperation grants, which are provided to strengthen the capacity to execute specific
investment projects.
Profit remittances on foreign direct investment are the sum of reinvested
earnings on direct investment and other direct investment income and are part of net
transfers.
Major economic aggregates
Five economic aggregates are provided for the reporting economies.
Gross national product (GNP) is the measure of the total domestic and foreign
output claimed by residents of an economy, less the domestic output claimed by
nonresidents. GNP does not include deductions for depreciation. Data on GNP are from the
Macroeconomic Data Team of the Development Economics Development Data Group of the World
Bank.
Exports of goods and services (XGS) are the total value of goods and services
exported as well as income and worker remittances received.
Imports of goods and services (MGS) are the total value of goods and services
imported and income paid.
International reserves (RES) are the sum of a countrys monetary
authoritys holdings of special drawing rights (SDRs), its reserve position in the
IMF, its holdings of foreign exchange, and its holdings of gold (valued at year-end London
prices).
Current account balance is the sum of the credits less the debits arising from
international transactions in goods, services, income, and current transfers. It
represents the transactions that add to or subtract from an economys stock of
foreign financial items.
Data on exports and imports (on a balance of payments basis), international reserves,
and current account balances are drawn mainly from the files of the IMF, complemented by
World Bank staff estimates. Balance of payments data are presented according to the fifth
edition of the IMFs Balance of Payments Manual, which made several
adjustments to its presentation of trade statistics. Coverage of goods was expanded to
include in imports the value of goods received for processing and repair (on a gross
basis). Their subsequent re-export is recorded in exports (also on a gross basis). This
approach will cause a countrys imports and exports to increase without affecting the
balance of goods. In addition, all capital transfers, which were included with current
transfers in the fourth edition of the Balance of Payments Manual, are now shown in
a separate capital (as opposed to financial) account, and so do not contribute to the
current account balance.
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