Policy Papers

Reform of the Policy on Public Debt Limits in IMF-Supported Programs

November 11, 2020

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International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department "Reform of the Policy on Public Debt Limits in IMF-Supported Programs", Policy Papers 2020, 061 (2020), accessed 2/10/2026, https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513560885.007

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Summary

This paper evaluates the IMF’s policy on the use of quantitative limits on public debt in IMF-supported programs (the “debt limits policy”) and proposes a number of modifications. The review is taking place at a time when many countries are experiencing heightened debt vulnerabilities or actual debt distress, aggravated by the COVID-19 shock, and occurring against the backdrop of a changing credit landscape in which concessional finance is scarcer relative to countries’ investment needs.

Subject: Asset and liability management, Concessional external borrowing, Debt limits, Debt sustainability, External debt, Government debt management, Public debt, Public financial management (PFM)

Keywords: Africa, Concessional external borrowing, debt conditionality, Debt limits, debt limits policy, Debt sustainability, debt vulnerability, financing arrangement, fund staff, Global, Government debt management, heightened debt vulnerability, low income countries, PP

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