Boosting fiscal space: the roles of GDP-linked debt and longer maturities

SUMMARY This paper assesses how issuance of GDP-linked debt and longer-maturity debt, in comparison to short-term debt, can help boost fiscal space for a given path of primary balances. By explicitly linking debt service to repayment capacity, GDP-linked debt helps to stabilize the debt ratio under growth uncertainty and reduces default risk through risk sharing with investors. Longer-maturity nominal debt also helps reduce default risk via state-contingent variation in the market price of debt. Reduced default risk in both cases lowers borrowing costs and results in higher maximum sustainable debt levels (and fiscal space given initial debt) for a given path of primary balances. Simulation results suggest sizable gains in fiscal space from the introduction of these instruments, though debtor moral hazard could militate against these benefits.