IBRD only: Short-term debt (% of total reserves)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, IBRD only's short-term debt (% of total reserves) rose 0.37 percentage points on 2023 (from 36.19% to 36.56%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was −1.55 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.91 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.5 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 9.9 percentage points in 1989 and the biggest yearly fall was 11.48 percentage points in 1991. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is upward, about 1.08 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 80% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

What this measures

Short-term debt includes all debt having an original maturity of one year or less and interest in arrears on long-term debt. Total reserves includes gold.

Limitations: The DRS encourages debtor countries to voluntarily provide information on their short-term external obligations. By its nature, short-term external debt is difficult to monitor: loan-by-loan registration is normally impractical, and monitoring systems typically rely on information requested periodically by the central bank from the banking sector. The World Bank regards the debtor country as the authoritative source of information on its short-term debt. Where such information is not available from the debtor country, data are derived from BIS data on international bank lending based on time remaining to original maturity.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 39 values

Short-term debt (% of total reserves) in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 4.46% (2020)
• Algeria — 2.12% (2024)
• Djibouti — 148.57% (2024)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 69% (2024)
• Iraq — 0.72% (2024)
• Jordan — 81.58% (2024)
• Lebanon — 57.19% (2024)
• Morocco — 20.21% (2024)
• Pakistan — 52.2% (2024)
• Tunisia — 170.49% (2024)
• Yemen, Rep.

More economic policy & debt data for IBRD only

• Charges for the use of intellectual property, payments (BoP, current US$) — US$129.32 billion (2025)
• Portfolio equity, net inflows (BoP, current US$) — US$11.74 billion (2025)
• Exports of goods and services (current US$) — US$11.25 trillion (2025)
• Exports of goods and services (% of GDP) — 26.13% (2025)
• Imports of goods and services (current US$) — US$10.56 trillion (2025)
• Imports of goods and services (% of GDP) — 24.53% (2025)
• External balance on goods and services (% of GDP) — 1.61% (2025)
• Trade (% of GDP) — 49.3% (2025)
• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is IBRD only's short-term debt (% of total reserves)?

36.56% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1984?

It is down 57.68 percentage points from 94.24% in 1984. The highest value was 94.77% in 1990 and the lowest 15.4% in 2009.

Is the latest change in short-term debt (% of total reserves) unusual for IBRD only?

In 2024, IBRD only's short-term debt (% of total reserves) rose 0.37 percentage points on 2023 (from 36.19% to 36.56%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was −1.55 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.91 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.5 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Where does this data come from?

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator DT.DOD.DSTC.IR.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Development Indicators, World Bank (WB); International Monetary Fund (IMF), type: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files; World Bank (WB), type: GDP estimates; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), type: GDP estimates Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.