Large fiscal financing needs, both in advanced and emerging market economies, have often been met by borrowing heavily from domestic banks. As public debt approached sustainability limits in a number of countries, however, high bank exposure to sovereign risk created a fragile inter-dependence...

This paper asks 1) whether reliance on Eurobond financing over the medium term is consistent with sound debt management policy and 2) whether Macedonia can reasonably expect Eurobond borrowing costs to fall in the future. The main conclusions are that Eurobond financing appears justified in the...

The recent round of debt relief has restored debt sustainability in many low-income countries (LICs). This, along with a continued search for yield and desire for portfolio diversification by investors, has increased the range of viable financing options, including international bonds, for many...

This study empirically analyzes the determinants of bond market development in a cross section of 23 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries between 1990 and 2008. It considers the stage of development and the size of the bond market, as well as the historical, structural, institutional and...

This paper examines Uruguay’s Fifth Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement and Requests for Modification of the Arrangement and Waiver of Nonobservance and Applicability of Performance Criteria. The macroeconomic framework is broadly on track, but progress with structural reform remains...

We develop a new public domestic debt (DD) database covering 93 low-income countries and emerging markets over the 1975-2004 period to estimate the growth impact of DD. Moderate levels of non-inflationary DD, as a share of GDP and bank deposits, are found to exert a positive overall impact on...

Using data on syndicated loan issuances by emerging market firms, we find that an increase in the external debt of emerging market governments significantly raises the borrowing costs of the domestic corporate sector. This finding suggests that a higher level of public external debt "crowds out"...

The Indonesian authorities are to be commended for their continued strong policy performance under their arrangement with the IMF. The economy is sustaining steady growth despite a number of external and domestic shocks; inflation has continued to decline; and there has been an additional buildup...

What is the case for adding the unconventional balance sheet policies used by major central banks since 2007 to the standard policy toolkit? The record so far suggests that the new liquidity providing policies in support of financial stability generally warrant inclusion. As the balance sheet...