External Debt Sustainability and Development

A/RES/68/202View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 17cExternal debt sustainability and development, published in 2013.

What other versions does this mandate have?

17 versions · 2010–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/123

2025A/RES/80/123External debt sustainability and developmentLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/RES/79/197External debt sustainability and developmentCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/137External debt sustainability and developmentCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/77/153External debt sustainability and developmentCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/193External debt sustainability and developmentCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 topics

Credit Policy Debt Management Debt Relief Debt Restructuring Developing Countries External Debt Sustainable Development

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2014.

2014A/69/167External debt sustainability and development report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

39 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

Emphasizes the special importance of a timely, effective, comprehensive and durable solution to the debt problems of developing countries to promote their economic growth and development;

Stresses the importance of sustainable lending and borrowing, emphasizes that creditors and debtors must share responsibility for preventing unsustainable debt situations and must incorporate debt sustainability considerations into their financing decisions, notes the endorsement by some Member States of the principles of the initiative of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to promote responsible sovereign lending and borrowing, and encourages Member States and relevant stakeholders to continue the ongoing discussions on this issue;

Acknowledges the role played by the Debt Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries, jointly developed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, to guide borrowing and lending decisions, and encourages the continued periodic review of the Framework in an open and transparent manner and with the full engagement of borrower and creditor Governments;

Reiterates that no single indicator should be used to make definitive judgements about a country’s debt sustainability, and in this regard, while acknowledging the need to use transparent and comparable indicators, invites the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, in their assessment of debt sustainability, to continue to take into account a country’s structural weaknesses and the fundamental changes caused by, inter alia, natural disasters, conflicts and changes in global growth prospects or in the terms of trade, especially for commodity-dependent developing countries, as well as by the impact of developments on financial markets, and to provide information on this issue to Member States, using the appropriate frameworks;

Recognizes that the long-term sustainability of debt depends on, inter alia, economic growth, the mobilization of domestic and international resources, the export prospects of debtor countries, sustainable debt management, sound macroeconomic policies that also support job creation, transparent and effective regulatory frameworks and success in overcoming structural development problems, and hence on the creation of an enabling international environment that is conducive to development;

Also recognizes the enormity and multidimensional nature of the world financial and economic crisis, which caused a sharp deterioration of the debt ratios in several developing countries, stresses the need to continue to assist developing countries in avoiding a build-up of unsustainable debt so as to reduce the risk of relapsing into another debt crisis, notes in this regard the additional resources made available during and since the crisis through the International Monetary Fund and the multilateral development banks, calls for the continued provision of concessional and grant-based financing to low-income countries to enable them to respond to the consequences of the crisis, and notes the provision by the International Monetary Fund of interest relief to low-income countries in the form of zero-interest payments on financing from concessional lending facilities until the end of 2014;

Further recognizes the roles of the United Nations and the international financial institutions in accordance with their respective mandates, and encourages them to continue to support global efforts towards sustained, inclusive and equitable growth, sustainable development and the external debt sustainability of developing countries, including through continued monitoring of global financial flows and their implications in this regard;

Emphasizes the need for coordinated policies aimed at fostering debt financing, debt relief and debt restructuring, recalls in this regard the improvement of the lending framework of the International Monetary Fund through, inter alia, streamlined conditions and flexible instruments, such as the precautionary and liquidity line, the flexible credit line and the rapid financing instrument, while noting that new and ongoing programmes should not contain unwarranted procyclical conditionalities, and urges the multilateral development banks to continue to move forward on flexible, concessional, fast-disbursing and front-loaded assistance that will substantially and quickly assist developing countries facing financing gaps in their efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, taking into consideration the individual absorptive capacities and debt sustainability of those countries;

Notes that countries can seek to negotiate, as a last resort, on a case-by-case basis and through existing frameworks, agreements on temporary debt standstills between debtors and creditors in order to help mitigate the adverse impacts of the crisis and stabilize macroeconomic developments;

Also notes the progress made under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, facilitated by the Paris Club, and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, while expressing concern that some countries have yet to reach decision or completion points, calls for the full and timely implementation of those Initiatives and for continued support to the remaining eligible countries in completing the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, and encourages all parties, both creditors and debtors, to fulfil their commitments as rapidly as possible in order to complete the debt relief process;

Welcomes and encourages the efforts of the heavily indebted poor countries, calls upon them to continue to strengthen their national policies to promote economic growth and poverty eradication through, inter alia, the maintenance of a national environment conducive to private-sector development, a stable macroeconomic framework and transparent and accountable systems of public finance, and invites the international financing institutions and the donor community to continue to provide adequate and sufficiently concessional financing to those countries;

Encourages the international financial institutions to review the implementation and the impact of debt relief initiatives in order to better understand why some countries still face persisting debt problems after completion of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, and calls for creditors and debtors to work together, inter alia, through the design of responses, including the broader use of debt management, to address them;

Underlines the fact that heavily indebted poor countries eligible for debt relief will not be able to enjoy its full benefits unless all creditors, both public and private, contribute their fair share and become involved in the international debt resolution mechanisms in order to ensure the debt sustainability of those countries, and invites creditors, both private and public, that are not yet fully participating in debt relief initiatives to substantially increase their participation, including through providing comparable treatment, to the extent possible, to debtor countries that have concluded sustainable debt relief agreements with creditors;

Stresses that debt relief can play a key role in liberating resources that should be directed towards activities consistent with poverty eradication, sustained economic growth, economic development and the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, and in this regard urges countries to direct the resources freed through debt relief, in particular through debt cancellation and reduction, towards achieving those objectives, including in the context of the post-2015 development agenda, according to their national priorities and strategies;

Encourages donor countries to take steps to ensure that resources provided for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative do not detract from other resources to be available for developing countries in accordance with official development assistance commitments;

Notes with concern that some low- and middle-income developing countries that are not part of the existing debt relief initiatives have large debt burdens that may create constraints on mobilizing the resources needed to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, indicating a need to consider, as appropriate, stronger debt management and debt relief initiatives for those countries, and encourages the consideration of medium- and long-term sustainability as well as new approaches to deal with bilateral and private non-Paris Club debt;

Encourages the Paris Club, in dealing with the debt of low- and middle-income debtor countries that are not part of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, to take into account their medium-term debt sustainability, in addition to their financing gaps, and notes with appreciation the Evian approach of the Paris Club in providing different terms of debt relief in order to respond to the specific needs of debtor countries while preserving debt cancellation for heavily indebted poor countries;

Recognizes the concerns about vulture fund litigation and that some debtor countries may experience difficulties in obtaining comparable treatment from non-Paris Club creditors, as required by the standard clause included in Paris Club agreements, and calls for the continued provision by the relevant institutions of mechanisms and legal assistance to debtor countries to solve litigation issues;

Stresses the need for the international community to remain vigilant in monitoring the debt situation of the least developed countries and to continue to take effective measures, preferably within existing frameworks, when applicable, to address the debt problem of those countries, including through the cancellation of the multilateral and bilateral debt owed by the least developed countries to creditors, both public and private;

Welcomes the efforts of and calls upon the international community to continue to provide flexibility, and stresses the need to sustain those efforts in helping post-conflict developing countries, especially those that are heavily indebted and poor, to achieve initial reconstruction for economic and social development;

Also welcomes the efforts of and invites creditors to provide flexibility to developing countries affected by natural disasters so as to allow them to address their debt concerns, while taking into account their specific situations and needs;

Calls for the consideration of additional measures and initiatives aimed at ensuring long-term debt sustainability through increased grant-based and other forms of concessional financing, the cancellation of 100 per cent of the eligible official multilateral and bilateral debt of heavily indebted poor countries and, where appropriate and on a case-by-case basis, significant debt relief or restructuring for developing countries with an unsustainable debt burden that are not part of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative;

Invites donor countries, taking into account country-specific debt sustainability analyses, to continue their efforts to increase bilateral grants to developing countries, which could contribute to debt sustainability in the medium to long term, and recognizes the need for countries to be able to promote employment and productive investment and to invest in, inter alia, health and education while maintaining debt sustainability;

Calls for the intensification of efforts to prevent and mitigate the prevalence and cost of debt crises by enhancing international financial mechanisms for crisis prevention and resolution, encourages the private sector to cooperate in this regard, and invites creditors and debtors to further explore, where appropriate and on a mutually agreed, transparent and case-by-case basis, the use of new and improved debt instruments and innovative mechanisms such as debt swaps, including debt for equity in Millennium Development Goal projects, as well as debt indexation instruments;

Also calls for the consideration of enhanced approaches to sovereign debt restructuring and debt resolution mechanisms, based on existing frameworks and principles, with the broad participation of creditors and debtors, and for the comparable treatment of all creditors and an important role for the Bretton Woods institutions and other relevant organizations within the United Nations system, and in this regard calls upon all countries to promote and contribute to the discussions, within the United Nations and other appropriate forums, on the need for and feasibility of a more structured framework for international cooperation in this area;

Decides to convene, at its sixty-ninth session, a special joint meeting of the Second Committee of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council to consider lessons learned from debt crises and the ongoing work on sovereign debt restructuring and debt resolution mechanisms, with the participation of relevant stakeholders, as appropriate, building on the report prepared by the Secretary-General, and resulting in a summary of the meeting;

Notes the changing composition of the sovereign debt of some countries, which has shifted increasingly from official to commercial borrowing and from external to national public debt, although for most low-income countries external finance is still largely official, also notes that the levels of national debt and the significantly increased number of creditors, both official and private, could create other challenges for macroeconomic management and public debt sustainability, and stresses the need to address the implications of these changes, including through improved data collection and analysis and enhancing international efforts in support of building the debt management capacity in borrowing countries, at their request;

Stresses the need to increase information-sharing, transparency and the use of objective criteria in the construction and evaluation of debt scenarios, including an assessment of national public and private debt, in order to ensure the achievement of development goals, and encourages further improvement of the mutual exchange of information, on a voluntary basis, on borrowing and lending among all creditors and borrowers;

Reaffirms the importance of having access to credit-rating information, and of the reduction of transaction costs, taking into account that inaccurate forecasts render the international financial system more vulnerable to herd behaviour and cliff effects, which have the potential to exacerbate financial crises, and in this regard encourages greater transparency, independence, avoidance of conflicts of interest and competition among credit-rating agencies, including through the development of national capacities and mechanisms, and requests the Secretary-General to continue to report on this issue when preparing his report on the implementation of the present resolution;

Invites, in this regard, the President of the Economic and Social Council to give appropriate consideration to this issue by organizing a meeting during the regular programme of work of the next substantive session of the Council;

Invites the international community to continue efforts to increase support, including financial and technical assistance, for institutional capacity-building in developing countries to enhance sustainable debt management as an integral part of national development strategies, including by promoting transparent and accountable debt management systems and negotiation and renegotiation capacities and through supporting legal advice in relation to tackling external debt litigation and debt data reconciliation between creditors and debtors so that debt sustainability may be achieved and maintained;

Invites the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, in cooperation with the regional commissions, regional development banks and other relevant multilateral financial institutions and stakeholders, to continue and intensify cooperation in respect of capacity-building activities in developing countries in the area of debt management and debt sustainability;

Acknowledges that timely and comprehensive data on the level and composition of debt are necessary for, inter alia, building early warning systems aimed at limiting the impact of debt crises, calls for debtor and creditor countries to intensify their efforts to collect data, and calls for donors to consider increasing their support for technical cooperation programmes aimed at increasing the statistical capacity of developing countries in that regard;

Requests both creditor and borrower countries to incorporate debt sustainability considerations and greater transparency into their financing decisions, and encourages consideration, as appropriate, of the Debt Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries, jointly developed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and the Principles and Guidelines to Promote Sustainable Lending Practices in the Provision of Official Export Credits to Low-Income Countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as strategies for guiding financing policies, recognizing that both creditors and debtors have a shared interest and responsibility in promoting debt sustainability and sustainable financing;

Calls upon all Member States and the United Nations system to take appropriate measures and actions for the implementation of the commitments, agreements and decisions of the major United Nations conferences and summits, in particular those related to the question of the external debt sustainability of developing countries;

Encourages giving appropriate consideration to the issue of external debt sustainability in the elaboration of the post-2015 development agenda;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session a report, prepared in consultation with relevant stakeholders, on the implementation of the present resolution and to include in the report a comprehensive and substantive analysis of the external debt situation of developing countries and options for enhanced approaches to debt restructuring and resolution mechanisms that take into account the multiple dimensions of debt sustainability;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its sixty-ninth session, under the item entitled “Macroeconomic policy questions”, the sub-item entitled “External debt sustainability and development”.

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