Closing the Gap: Building a Borrower-Centric Space in International Debt Governance

Decades of experience show that the international debt landscape has functioned largely around creditor-led coordination mechanisms. While these structures provide lenders with tools to manage risk and stabilize funding, there is no equally institutionalized space for borrower countries to convene, exchange experiences, and present a unified voice. This imbalance reinforces power asymmetries, constrains information sharing, and can impede timely and coherent responses to debt distress. The absence of a formal borrower-centric platform limits peer learning on debt management, transparency, and sustainable finance, and reduces leverage in negotiations over restructurings, conditionalities, and access terms. Creating a robust, inclusive borrower space—whether a formal council, multistakeholder forum, or regional coalitions—could enable shared data, best practices, coordinated advocacy, and stronger capacity building. Such an architecture would require clear governance, representation from regional groups, low- and middle-income country stakeholders, civil society, and parliamentarians, and constructive integration with existing IMF/WB processes to ensure borrower perspectives translate into meaningful influence within debt governance.