Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are emerging as developing Asia's main policy tool for handling the region's excess foreign exchange reserves. SWFs represent a strategic shift of excess reserves from low-risk, low-return investments to high-risk, high-return investments, and are subject to a wide...

This World Bank Discussion Paper brings together two contributions on external debt issues. The first paper discusses the insurability of sovereign debt against default. The second paper reviews numerous studies that have been conducted over the years to identify the variables that could predict...

Private and public sector sponsors of infrastructure, industrial and other commercial projects in developing countries are looking increasingly to the project finance structure to fund these operations. The World Bank has an array of financial instruments to support these projects. This paper...

The objective of this study is to help assess the possible vulnerabilities in a number of Central European countries as they proceed with global financial integration and EU accession. The report focuses on those countries slated to be the first in the region to join the EU, the Czech Republic,...

The main objective of this report is to evaluate World Bank lending for small enterprises between FY89 and FY93, including both small and medium enterprises and microenterprises. There has been a marked shift in the Bank's work in this area, and this review details the nature and content of this...

The paper argues that the macro focus of the literature on the Asian crises is not helpful in understanding the causes of the crises. The actual causes lie deeper in the operation of the real, that is, the corporate sector. In this context, the paper analyzes the micro behavior of individual firms.

This paper assesses the social impact of the Asian Financial crisis, drawing on the results of studies in six countries, namely, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand. The impacts appear to be less than were anticipated early in the...