Source: IMF (2012, 2013, 2017).

Note: Years indicate when the thresholds were first implemented. Thresholds for the external debt-to-exports and debt-to-revenue ratios are omitted from the table. To place these thresholds into context, the 1996 HIPC Initiative targeted a debt service to export ratio of 20–25 and a debt-to-exports ratio of 200–250. The 1999 Enhanced HIPC Initiative reduced these to 15–20 and 150. In 2005, the LIC DSF thresholds for the ratio of the PV of PPG external debt to exports were 100, 150 and 200.

The 2013 and 2018 thresholds were implemented as a result of LIC DSF reviews in 2012 and 2017. The PV of total PPG debt indicator became mandatory for the first time following the 2012 review. Following the 2009 review (starting in 2010), the framework included remittances in the denominators of the external debt to GDP, external debt to exports and external debt service to exports ratios and assigned remittance-adjusted thresholds (not shown). In 2013, the remittance-adjusted thresholds were set at 10%, 20% and 20%, respectively, below the unadjusted thresholds that appear in the table above.

Until 2018, the debt-carrying capacity assessment (along the rows) was based on a 3-year backward moving average of the overall CPIA score (which ranges from 1 to 6). Values of 3.25 or below, between 3.25 and 3.75 or 3.75 or above corresponded to weak, medium and strong. This classification was replaced in July 2018 by a composite indicator (CI) that includes the CPIA and four macroeconomic variables, with weak, medium and strong mapping to the lower, medium two and upper quartiles of the historical distribution of the CI.