Following the 2008 global financial crisis, the socialization of losses from private debts and the subsequent emergence of sovereign debt crises in developing and developed countries, UNCTAD decided to make a proposal to improve the coherence, fairness and efficiency of sovereign debt workouts.

For this purpose, it established an ad hoc Working Group on a Debt Workout Mechanism in 2013 composed of stakeholders and independent experts.

This roadmap contains six sections:

• A concise summary of the key problems of current practice (A)
• A set of five principles for sovereign debt workouts (B)
• Global reforms recommended for smoothing debt workouts (C)
• Steps to be taken by debtor states prior to debt workouts (D)
• Recommendations for a reformed debt workout process (E)
• Recommendations for courts deciding sovereign debt cases (F)

The Roadmap is accompanied by a Guide, which provides an in-depth explanation of the principles and recommendations contained in this Roadmap.