An examination of the external indebtedness and debt problems of developing countries must begin with a quantitative analysis of the debt. In spite of significant advances in recent years in the quality and coverage of debt data, serious deficiencies remain in the basic statistics, either from debtor or from creditor sources. Partly as a result of these deficiencies, a variety of estimates for developing country debt are in use, reflecting definitional differences in the categories of debt covered, the availability of information on each type of debt, and the particular purpose of each series.
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