Countries that subscribe to the IMF's Special Data Dissemination Standard make a commitment to observe the standard and to provide information about their data and data dissemination practices--metadata--for the DSBB.

The SDDS calls for the dissemination of external debt (EXD) of the general government, the monetary authorities, the banking sector, and all other sectors, to be compiled in accordance with the fifth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual. Data should also be broken down by maturity (short-term and long-term) on an original maturity basis and by instrument. A three-year transition period to end in March 2003 is in effect for implementing the external debt data category.

The links presented below are intended to provide quick access to detailed data consistent with the components described in the subscriber's metadata. These presentations, where relevant, complement the data available on the subscriber's National Summary Data Page (NSDP).This page will be updated as additional subscribers begin to disseminate EXD data.