(this post is an update of a 2007 post of the same name)
Global Development Finance is an annual report from the World Bank on the external debt of developing countries on a loan-by-loan basis.
GDF dataBank contains data on the external debt of 128 countries that report public and publicly guaranteed debt under the Debtor Reporting System (DRS), from 1970 to 2008.
Formats: extract the just the variables you need to Excel, a csv or tab delimited text file, or download the entire dataset (Excel, csv, xml. sdmx, API accessible).
Example variables (from the more than 200 included in the database): debt outstanding, debt service, disbursements, foreign direct investment, short-term debt as a percentage of total debt, total debt as a percentage of GNP, net flows, net transfers, undisbursed debt, debt buyback, debt forgiveness, debt stocks, and use of IMF credit.
Documentation: The main trouble new users of the GDF can expect is to understand what all the data series mean. Definitions of the data series can be found on the World Bank web site along with methodology, sources, abbreviations and other metadata. You can also click the “Notes” button when selecting a data series to view definitions and source notes.
Note about accessing historical GDF reports:
Previous to the 2010 edition, GDF was is published in two volumes, a report and a statistical appendix.
The summary report, or first volume, usually titled “Analysis and Statistical Appendix” is is a rich source of trends of financial flows and external debt of foreign countries. Previous volumes from 1999-2009 are available online from the World Bank web site, free for anyone to read. Carleton library has the 2003 edition in print.
The statistical data, or second volume, “Summary and Country Tables” contains country data in time series back to 1970. Previously available only via subscription, the World Bank now makes it available to the public as a part of its open data initiative.
Contact Kristin or Danya if you have any questions about using this data source from the library.