This paper assesses the non linear impact of external debt on growth using a large panel data set of 93 developing … different debt indicators. For a country with average indebtedness, doubling the debt ratio would reduce annual per capita … percent per annum. For countries that are to benefit from debt reduction under the current HIPC initiative, per capita growth …

This paper develops a simple model of foreign debt portfolio management. The model suggests that, under mild conditions …, the currency composition of a country's foreign debt portfolio is responsive to exchange rate movements. Empirical … analysis show that foreign debt portfolio management has been sub-optimal in the countries under examination. In these …

Do Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) suffer from a debt overhang? Is debt relief going to improve their growth … rates? To answer these important questions, we look at how the debt-growth relationship varies with indebtedness levels and … relationship between debt and growth at intermediate levels of debt, but not at very low debt levels, below the “debt overhang …

appropriate relief scheme involves debt reduction or new money, however, depends on whether investment disincentives or liquidity …This paper shows that concerted debt reduction may be welfare-improving even when the investment disincentive effect of … a debt overhang is not large enough to place the debtor country on the wrong side of the debt Laffer curve. Whether the …

This paper models the resource implications of debt relief provided to low-income countries (LICs). Obtaining debt … community. Preliminary cross-section estimates suggest that debt relief provided to low-income countries in the period 1996 2000 … neither crowded out other non-debt relief-related aid flows to the debtors concerned nor created significant extra net …

relevant to the debate on Sovereign Debt Restructuring. It highlights four components common to most bankruptcy reorganization … institutions: a stay on debt collection efforts to prevent a costly run for the assets, broad enforcement of absolute priority … while its liabilities are restructured. The paper argues that these components ought to be present in any sovereign debt …

an external debt overhang. A simple taxation scheme is specified and it is shown that a country can be on the “wrong side …” of its debt Laffer curve only if it is on the wrong side of its tax Laffer curve. The analysis indicates that fairly … disincentives associated with the debt overhang are large enough to place a country on the wrong side of its debt Laffer curve. …

This paper provides updated information on the external debt problem of sub-Saharan Africa. Between 1980 and 1990 the … region’s external debt more than tripled, to US$171 billion, while debt service payments and rescheduling rose by more than … 150 percent to US$20 billion. In addition, the region continues to qualify as severely debt-distressed. During the last …