Economy > External debt > Terms > Average grant element on new external debt commitments > Private: Countries Compared

DEFINITION: The grant element of a loan is the grant equivalent expressed as a percentage of the amount committed. It is used as a measure of the overall cost of borrowing. To obtain the average, the grant elements for all public and publicly guaranteed loans have been weighted by the amounts of the loans. The grant equivalent of a loan is its commitment (present) value, less the discounted present value of its contractual debt service; conventionally, future service payments are discounted at 10 percent. Commitments cover the total amount of loans for which contracts were signed in the year specified. Debt from private creditors include bonds that are either publicly issued or privately placed; commercial bank loans from private banks and other private financial institutions; and other private credits from manufacturers, exporters, and other suppliers of goods, and bank credits covered by a guarantee of an export credit agency.".