Multilateral Finance Remains Meaningful to Sovereign Debtors
Multilateral finance has remained a key source of funding across all emerging market (EM) regions despite major shifts in sovereign creditor profiles over the past three decades. KBRA analyzes trends in creditor finance to EM sovereigns from 1990-2024 using World Bank long-term external public debt data across four regions—Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America—based on a sample of countries.
Key Takeaways
The share of multilateral debt has remained broadly stable over time, largely due to multilateral development banks’ (MDB) countercyclical role.
The share of bilateral debt has declined, supplanted by the growth in bond market financing. However, Chinese bilateral lending surged in the 2000s, with a large share may not be captured by official statistics.
Bond-based debt has increased due to improved EM fundamentals and greater financial globalization.
Regional trends differ materially, with Latin America showing the strongest shift toward bond-based…
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