Radical Debt Transparency

Overview & Synopsis

This report calls for radical debt transparency, to shift from current, often opaque, practices toward full and timely disclosure. Since the World Bank’s first comprehensive assessment of debt transparency in developing countries in 2021, more countries now report debt data, but there are persistent challenges. Too often, reporting is limited, inconsistent, and delayed. The risks are most acute for public sector debt contracted outside the central government, and through nontraditional instruments and contingent liabilities. As sovereign borrowers contend with higher interest costs, tighter refinancing conditions, and limited market access, many are increasingly turning to off-budget financing and opaque, unconventional external financing arrangements, such as private placements, central bank swaps, and collateralized loans. In parallel, domestic debt is increasing, but disclosure standards remain inadequate, and market-based issuance mechanisms are often underutilized. As a result, debt risks are often hidden, true liabilities obscured, and sustainability undermined. Further complicating the picture, partial and confidential debt restructurings with select creditors have become more frequent, depriving markets of vital information and delaying comprehensive solutions. What is needed now is bold, coordinated international action to encourage all actors, borrowers, official and private creditors, and international institutions, to drive decisive progress on debt transparency. This will require greater participation in transparency initiatives from both debtor and creditor countries, and stronger global platforms and frameworks to support them. This report calls for key actions to advance debt transparency: full disclosure of lending terms, stronger national oversight of all debt, particularly collateralized and non-market-based instruments; and improved tools for International Financial Institutions to report more granular debt data and detect misreporting. It also urges all creditors to open their loan and guarantee books, engage in joint data reconciliation processes, and publish debt restructuring terms once agreements are reached.