This article proposes a methodology to integrate gender into traditional debt sustainability analysis, dubbed “gender-responsive debt sustainability analysis” (GR-DSA). Standard approaches to debt sustainability focus on fiscal adjustments that stabilize debt/GDP ratio, either ignoring or underestimating the large social costs – especially along gender lines – of fiscal austerity. In contrast, GR-DSA explicitly incorporates sociopolitical constraints into debt sustainability. Highlighting the importance of safeguarding spending on social infrastructure – such as childcare, education, and healthcare – the article shows how to calculate debt relief when a debt burden is unsustainable. The study evaluates the debt sustainability of a sample of sixty-eight low- and low-middle-income countries. Results suggest that a hypothetical economy with a debt/GDP ratio above the 75th percentile of the 2023 distribution needs debt relief as high as 30 percent of GDP. Thus, failing to consider gender dimensions of fiscal adjustment packages severely understates the need for debt relief, particularly in developing countries.HIGHLIGHTSSocial constraints such as gender equality alter the definition of debt sustainability.Social infrastructure spending impacts gender equality directly.It affects fiscal space indirectly through macroeconomic feedback mechanisms.A debt-sustainability methodology that integrates gender addresses these concerns.It emphasizes the importance of safeguarding social infrastructure spending.This analysis implies a need for substantial debt relief for developing countries.
Akin et al. (Thu,) studied this question.