Sovereign Debt

A panel discussion on Capitol Hill explored the challenges facing the Global South and the impact of debt and climate change on these nations.

Discover the scenarios for surcharge reform proposed by the IMF Board. Learn why CEPR advocates for the elimination of these punitive fees.

Protests in Kenya highlight the impact of IMF-backed reforms and the failing international financial architecture.

Explore the research on IMF surcharges and their effects on payment systems, banking, and public economics.

Explore the relationship between climate change and debt in developing countries. Understand how rising debt costs are adding to their vulnerabilities.

This paper presents an estimate of IMF surcharges updated as of February 2024. It shows that 22 countries are now subject to surcharges, a net increase of 6 since our 2023 estimate.

The IMF is considered a “super-senior” creditor for developing countries, but it is now charging over 8 percent for disbursements to its most indebted borrowers, due in part to surcharges.

At stake is a fight between two visions of what role the WTO, as the world’s most powerful rule-making body in the global economy, should play.

The IMF’s own data supports widespread concerns that the surcharge policy presents a tremendous burden on heavily indebted countries, which is only growing.

New calculations negate one of the main rationales the IMF has put forward to justify its unfair, unnecessary, and counterproductive surcharge policy.