In 2021, the Executive Board approved a new framework for assessing sovereign risk and debt sustainability for market access countries (MAC SRDSF). Accordingly, a new template was developed for conducting the Sovereign Risk and Debt Sustainability Analysis (SRDSA), together with a new staff guidance note on the implementation of the new framework.

Answers to frequently asked questions on the MAC SRDSF can be found here, and the new public MAC SRDSF template can be downloaded here.

Background

Debt sustainability analyses are conducted in the context of IMF program requests and reviews, and Article IV consultations. The Fund’s approach to debt sustainability analysis differentiates between market access countries (MACs) that typically have significant access to international capital markets, and low-income countries (LICs), which meet their external financing needs mostly through concessional financing. The assessments are performed through frameworks tailored to the MAC and LIC environments—the MAC SRDSF and LIC DSF.