Why debt matters
Low- and middle-income countries currently borrow more and at higher costs than at any other point in history, reducing investment in essential public goods and services and placing a majority of these countries in high debt vulnerability. As the fiscal space shrinks, development priorities are set aside, private sector lending is crowded out and growth is constrained. Overall, more than a third of the world’s population now lives in countries where their government spends more on debt service than on health or education.
Unsustainable and untransparent public debt represents a democratic deficit. It can lead to instability and social unrest sparked by fiscal cuts and increases to the cost of living.
Resolving this crisis requires a fundamental shift in oversight and accountability for how governments borrow and manage debt.
The parliamentary solution
Parliaments are critical fiscal policy institutions with unique oversight responsibilities. Yet their ability to exercise these responsibilities depends largely on debt transparency and institutional capacity.
WFD has taken a leadership role in generating insight and crafting and deploying global tools that empower parliaments to play their rightful oversight role:
First, WFD has created and piloted its Public Debt Management Assessment Toolkit (PDMAT).
Second, WFD has commissioned and is now publishing a Public Debt Integrity Series of research papers in partnership with AFRODAD.
Why measure parliament’s role?
Public debt is not just a fiscal matter. It shapes the political and economic trajectory of nations. Yet too often, borrowing decisions are taken with limited transparency, little legislative input, and minimal public engagement. When left unchecked, opaque and unaccountable debt accumulation can exacerbate poverty, entrench inequality, and heighten fiscal crises. Parliaments are well positioned to counter these trends: they legislate borrowing frameworks, scrutinise budgets, and approve or reject loan agreements. However, their effectiveness in these roles varies widely.
Measuring this effectiveness is vital. Without benchmarks, gaps in oversight remain hidden, and reform efforts may lack direction. This is where the PDMAT steps in, a toolkit developed to help parliaments assess their strengths and weaknesses through 67 indicators across nine dimensions, including debt transparency, legal frameworks, fiscal risk management, and public participation.
A toolkit with global reach
WFD has partnered with parliaments to apply the PDMAT in Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Albania. Each assessment resulted in critical insights into how oversight mechanisms function or fall short.
- In Kenya, WFD and the Institute for Public Finance (IPF) conducted an assessment that revealed a need for periodic review and approval of the Medium-Term Debt Strategy (MTDS) to ensure adaptability to changing economic conditions and the need for the Annual Borrowing Plan (ABP) to include a list of loans to be financed in each budget cycle to be submitted to parliament before parliament approves the budget estimates.
- In Uganda, the assessment conducted by WFD in cooperation with the World Bank showed that while the legal framework is relatively robust, gaps persist in mid-year debt reporting and oversight of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). Audit mechanisms were found to be underused, with few public hearings on debt performance and limited follow-up to audit findings.
- In Sierra Leone, the assessment conducted by WFD in partnership with the Parliamentary Budget Office highlighted that parliament has limited involvement in the scrutiny of loan agreements, and limited oversight of fiscal risks related to SOEs and would benefit from enhanced reporting on contingent liabilities related to Public-Private Partnerships.
- Albania’s assessment flagged urgent issues with SOEs and contingent liabilities, found that parliamentary oversight could be improved in the execution and audit stages of the budget cycle, and identified a case to create a dedicated committee to monitor loan-financed projects.
- In Nigeria, WFD’s assessment found that key debt documents, such as the medium-term debt strategy and the annual borrowing plan, are not published or tabled in parliament, which plays a limited role in the scrutiny of loan agreements. It was identified that in the short-term, parliament could upscale its scrutiny role by reviewing annual debt reports or similar documents to assess new loan commitments.
These country analyses demonstrate that strengthening oversight is not a one-size-fits-all endeavour. The PDMAT provides the structure for identifying tailored reforms based on context-specific findings.
The way forward: an accountability ecosystem
Improving parliamentary oversight of public debt is not just about parliament. It requires an accountability ecosystem. Supreme audit institutions and civil society have a role to play. WFD’s Public Debt Management Assessment Toolkit makes this ecosystem visible and measurable.
The reports from Albania, Uganda, and Kenya each recommend closer cooperation between parliaments and auditors general, alongside improved public access to debt information. In Sierra Leone, public hearings are becoming more common but are yet to translate into legislative influence. Across all countries, civil society remains a largely untapped partner in scrutinising borrowing.
Global research, local impact
WFD’s collaboration with AFRODAD to produce the Public Debt Integrity Series further anchors our work on public debt management in thought leadership and practical reform. The series of 13 papers explores how parliamentary oversight intersects with development outcomes, transparency, and accountability.
For instance, Abraham E. Nwankwo’s paper calls for debt productivity plans - linking debt to measurable economic outcomes - to be included in debt management strategies and reviewed by parliaments. Ben Cormier’s paper urges a closer look at the political economy of borrowing, arguing that without tackling the fiscal-policy incentives behind debt accumulation, oversight will remain weak, no matter the legal powers on paper.
Conclusion: from transparency to transformation
By driving this body of work, WFD is not only contributing to stronger institutions in partner countries but also strengthening the UK’s relationships and providing a strong UK voice in establishing global standards in public debt management. The UK’s support, through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), enables this unique intersection of research, policy reform, and democratic capacity building.
As debt burdens continue to mount globally, transparency alone is not enough. Parliaments must move from passive observers to active participants in shaping debt policy. Tools like the PDMAT that WFD is pioneering provide the roadmap. But the journey requires continued investment in the broader ecosystem, where legislatures, auditors, and citizens collaborate to make public borrowing truly accountable.
WFD’s thought leadership in this space, anchored in rigorous tools, thoughtful research, and strategic partnerships with local leaders and institutions, demonstrates the UK’s commitment to development not just through aid, but through the diffusion of democratic norms and capacity.
WFD’s Public Debt Management Assessment toolkit will be published on 12 May, ahead of the African Union Public Debt Conference.
The Public Debt Integrity series is releasing three new papers a week between 16 April and 7 May.
Explore the series
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Strengthening parliamentary debt oversight through global benchmarking
Strengthening parliamentary debt oversight through global benchmarking
Why debt matters
Low- and middle-income countries currently borrow more and at higher costs than at any other point in history, reducing investment in essential public goods and services and placing a majority of these countries in high debt vulnerability. As the fiscal space shrinks, development priorities are set aside, private sector lending is crowded out and growth is constrained. Overall, more than a third of the world’s population now lives in countries where their government spends more on debt service than on health or education.
Unsustainable and untransparent public debt represents a democratic deficit. It can lead to instability and social unrest sparked by fiscal cuts and increases to the cost of living.
Resolving this crisis requires a fundamental shift in oversight and accountability for how governments borrow and manage debt.
The parliamentary solution
Parliaments are critical fiscal policy institutions with unique oversight responsibilities. Yet their ability to exercise these responsibilities depends largely on debt transparency and institutional capacity.
WFD has taken a leadership role in generating insight and crafting and deploying global tools that empower parliaments to play their rightful oversight role:
First, WFD has created and piloted its Public Debt Management Assessment Toolkit (PDMAT).
Second, WFD has commissioned and is now publishing a Public Debt Integrity Series of research papers in partnership with AFRODAD.
Why measure parliament’s role?
Public debt is not just a fiscal matter. It shapes the political and economic trajectory of nations. Yet too often, borrowing decisions are taken with limited transparency, little legislative input, and minimal public engagement. When left unchecked, opaque and unaccountable debt accumulation can exacerbate poverty, entrench inequality, and heighten fiscal crises. Parliaments are well positioned to counter these trends: they legislate borrowing frameworks, scrutinise budgets, and approve or reject loan agreements. However, their effectiveness in these roles varies widely.
Measuring this effectiveness is vital. Without benchmarks, gaps in oversight remain hidden, and reform efforts may lack direction. This is where the PDMAT steps in, a toolkit developed to help parliaments assess their strengths and weaknesses through 67 indicators across nine dimensions, including debt transparency, legal frameworks, fiscal risk management, and public participation.
A toolkit with global reach
WFD has partnered with parliaments to apply the PDMAT in Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Albania. Each assessment resulted in critical insights into how oversight mechanisms function or fall short.
These country analyses demonstrate that strengthening oversight is not a one-size-fits-all endeavour. The PDMAT provides the structure for identifying tailored reforms based on context-specific findings.
The way forward: an accountability ecosystem
Improving parliamentary oversight of public debt is not just about parliament. It requires an accountability ecosystem. Supreme audit institutions and civil society have a role to play. WFD’s Public Debt Management Assessment Toolkit makes this ecosystem visible and measurable.
The reports from Albania, Uganda, and Kenya each recommend closer cooperation between parliaments and auditors general, alongside improved public access to debt information. In Sierra Leone, public hearings are becoming more common but are yet to translate into legislative influence. Across all countries, civil society remains a largely untapped partner in scrutinising borrowing.
Global research, local impact
WFD’s collaboration with AFRODAD to produce the Public Debt Integrity Series further anchors our work on public debt management in thought leadership and practical reform. The series of 13 papers explores how parliamentary oversight intersects with development outcomes, transparency, and accountability.
For instance, Abraham E. Nwankwo’s paper calls for debt productivity plans - linking debt to measurable economic outcomes - to be included in debt management strategies and reviewed by parliaments. Ben Cormier’s paper urges a closer look at the political economy of borrowing, arguing that without tackling the fiscal-policy incentives behind debt accumulation, oversight will remain weak, no matter the legal powers on paper.
Conclusion: from transparency to transformation
By driving this body of work, WFD is not only contributing to stronger institutions in partner countries but also strengthening the UK’s relationships and providing a strong UK voice in establishing global standards in public debt management. The UK’s support, through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), enables this unique intersection of research, policy reform, and democratic capacity building.
As debt burdens continue to mount globally, transparency alone is not enough. Parliaments must move from passive observers to active participants in shaping debt policy. Tools like the PDMAT that WFD is pioneering provide the roadmap. But the journey requires continued investment in the broader ecosystem, where legislatures, auditors, and citizens collaborate to make public borrowing truly accountable.
WFD’s thought leadership in this space, anchored in rigorous tools, thoughtful research, and strategic partnerships with local leaders and institutions, demonstrates the UK’s commitment to development not just through aid, but through the diffusion of democratic norms and capacity.
WFD’s Public Debt Management Assessment toolkit will be published on 12 May, ahead of the African Union Public Debt Conference.
The Public Debt Integrity series is releasing three new papers a week between 16 April and 7 May.
Explore the series
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