I N T E R N A T I O N A L
D E B T
S T A T I S T I C S
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Table I.3. Top Ten Borrowers, External Debt Stocks 2012, and Net Inflows 2011–12 $ billion External debt stock end 2012 % of total
Net inflow 2011
Net inflow 2012
Amount
Amount
Country
Amount
% change in net inflow 2012
% of total net flow 2012
China
754.0
15.6
140.1
37.8
−73.0
Brazil
440.5
9.1
46.3
39.5
−14.8
9.6
India
379.1
7.8
43.4
44.3
1.9
10.8
Mexico
354.9
7.3
42.9
84.4
96.7
20.5
Turkey
337.5
7.0
17.5
40.1
129.0
9.7
Indonesia
254.9
5.3
22.9
30.2
31.8
7.3
Hungary
203.8
4.2
1.8
−10.7
−685.6
−2.6
South Africa
137.5
2.8
4.4
11.7
168.7
2.8
Kazakhstan
137.0
2.8
6.4
12.4
93.3
3.0
Ukraine
135.1
2.8
11.5
−3.5
−130.5
−0.9
Total top 10 borrowers
3,134.2
64.9
337.2
286.1
−15.2
69.5
Other developing countries
1,695.4
35.1
114.6
125.7
9.7
30.5
All developing countries
4,829.6
100.0
451.9
411.8
−8.9
100.0
9.2
Source: World Bank Debtor Reporting System.
net borrower in 2012, accounting for 20 percent of net debt inflows to all developing countries (table I.3). Developing countries’ external debt burdens are moderate. Despite uncertainty surrounding the global economic and financial crisis, the majority of developing countries have seen their economies rebound strongly since 2010 with a concomitant improvement in the ratio of outstanding external debt to GNI and to export earnings; this improvement translates to an average of 22.1 percent of GNI and 71.9 percent of export earnings at the end of 2012. Risks associated with the fact that short-term debt constituted 26 percent of external debt stock at the end of 2012 were mitigated by international reserves equivalent to 118 percent of the external debt stock at the end of 2012. Most short-term debt was trade related; measured against developing countries’ imports, it was 18 percent—virtually unchanged from 2011. Developing countries have also seen a significant improvement in their external debt payment servicing capacity over the past decade, primarily as
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a consequence of increased export earnings, but also as a direct outcome of debt restructuring and outright debt relief from official and private creditors. Most HIPC- and MDRI-eligible countries have now fully benefited from HIPC, MDRI, and additional bilateral relief. The average debt service to export ratio fell to 9.8 percent in 2012, a marginal decline from the 10 percent recorded in 2011, but well below half the 21.1 percent at the start of the decade (figure I.2). Bond issuance by developing countries’ public and private borrowers rose nearly 30 percent in 2012, to an all-time high of $226 billion. The principal driver was a surge in new bond issuance by sovereigns and public sector entities in international capital markets and the purchase of domestically issued sovereign bonds by nonresidents, particularly in Mexico and Thailand. Issuance by public borrowers rose 43 percent in 2012, to $137.8 billion, and their share of total bond issuance rose to 61 percent, from 55 percent in 2011. Public borrowers in Latin America and the Caribbean claimed the largest share (39 percent)