Shafaq News- Washington

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank are revising their debt assessment framework for low-income countries following its first review since 2017, with the updated system expected to take effect in the second half of 2027, the IMF said on Monday.

According to the IMF, debt risks have become more complex since the previous review, with debt levels rising in many low-income countries and governments increasingly borrowing from domestic and foreign sources on commercial terms.

The changes will sharpen the distinction between countries facing debt stress and those whose debt is considered unsustainable. They will also refine how debt-carrying capacity is measured and expand the thresholds and tools used to identify risks.

Greater attention will also be given to domestic debt and long-term pressures, including development needs and climate adaptation. The IMF said the changes should help governments assess how much fiscal space they have for investment while managing debt vulnerabilities.

Other measures include stronger stress tests and tools to assess the accuracy of economic forecasts. The framework will encourage countries to improve the coverage, transparency and reliability of public debt data.

IMF Executive Directors broadly supported the changes but called for clear guidance, communication and training before implementation. Most directors also backed temporarily withholding the probability thresholds and country-specific mechanical signals generated by a new model for assessing unsustainable public debt while the IMF gains experience with the methodology.

The review kept the harmonized discount rate used under the LIC-DSF and the IMF's Debt Limits Policy unchanged at 5%.

Introduced in 2005, the framework guides IMF and World Bank assessments of debt risks in low-income countries and informs lending, fiscal policy and public debt management. It underwent previous reviews in 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2017.