The World Bank, in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), launched the new Quarterly  External Debt Statistics database, in line with the classifications and definitions of the 2013 External Debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users (2013 EDS Guide) and Sixth Edition of Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6). This database features new concepts and definitions, and classifications of external debt data, as well as, expanded coverage, that enhance the analytical use of the data. 

The QEDS database 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). The QEDS database provides high frequency, quarterly external debt data for 73 SDDS participants (mostly high- and middle- income countries) and 45 GDDS participants (mostly developing countries) disaggregated by institutional sectors, maturity, and debt instruments.  The benefit of bringing together comparable external debt data is to facilitate macroeconomic analysis and cross-country data comparison. The participation of countries in the QEDS database is voluntary.

In order to present data consistent with the 2013 EDS Guide/BPM6 basis in the new database, the World Bank converted previously reported data on a 2003 EDS Guide/BPM5 basis onto the 2013 EDS Guide/BPM6 basis for those countries who have not yet switched to the new reporting format.  Using a generic conversion template featuring data from the current quarter, the conversion was conducted in consultations with reporting QEDS countries.

The full QEDS data for both SDDS and GDDS can be accessed from the World Bank’s Open Data website by selecting “Quarterly External Debt Statistics/SDDS (New)” and “Quarterly External Debt Statistics/GDDS (New)”. Please note that the QEDS database on a 2003 EDS Guide/BPM5 basis has been discontinued and is no longer available to the public.