These guidelines are designed to assist policymakers in considering reforms to strengthen the quality of their public debt management practices, and reduce their country’s vulnerability to international financial shocks. The publication covers both domestic and external public debt, and deals with a broad range of financial claims on the government. The aim is to identify areas in which there is broad agreement on what generally constitutes sound practices in public debt management. The focus is on principles applicable to a wide range of countries at different stages of development, and with various institutional structures of national debt management.