Despite substantial debt relief to HIPC Initiative completion point countries, long-term debt sustainability remains a challenge. This paper examines a number of structural factors affecting external debt sustainability. It shows that in HIPC completion point countries (i) the export base...

The paper looks at the relationship between reserve requirements and the choice of the maturity structure of external debt in a general equilibrium setup, by incorporating the role of international lenders. A date- and maturity-specific reserve requirement is a fraction of the debt to be...

Intro -- Contents -- I. INTRODUCTION -- II. BACKGROUND -- III. DATA AND EMPIRICAL APPROACH -- A. Sovereign Borrowing Cost Model -- B. Launch Spreads -- C. Launch Yields -- IV. CONCLUSIONS -- APPENDIX I. MAIN DATA SOURCES AND DESCRIPTION -- REFERENCES.

This paper estimates factors affecting demand for Fund financing by Low-Income Countries (LICs) in response to policy and exogenous shocks. Various economic variables including reserve coverage, current account balance to GDP, real GDP growth, macroeconomic stability, and terms of trade shocks...

Intro -- Contents -- I. INTRODUCTION -- II. SUDDEN STOPS AND MULTILATERAL INSURANCE -- III. CAPITAL FLOWS AND SUDDEN STOPS -- IV. IMF-SUPPORTED PROGRAMS -- V. MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS -- VI. IMF-SUPPORTED PROGRAMS AND SUDDEN STOPS -- VII. EXTENSIONS -- VIII. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS -- Appendix...

This paper explores the catalytic impact of IMF lending to Low-Income Countries on Official Development Assistance (ODA) during 1990-2019. It disentangles the effect on the amounts of ODA on countries’ participation in IMF programs (“extensive margin”) and the size of the IMF-supported...

Rising debt vulnerabilities in low- and middle-income countries have rekindled interest in a Brady Plan-style mechanism to facilitate debt restructurings. To inform this debate, this paper analyzes the impact of the original Brady Plan by comparing macroeconomic outcomes of 10 Brady countries to...

There are growing concerns that 25 years after the launch of the HIPC debt relief initiative, many low-income countries are again facing high debt vulnerabilities. This paper compares debt vulnerabilities in LICs today versus those on the eve of the HIPC Initiative and examines challenges to a...

Debt levels, both private and public, were already at record highs before the Covid-19 pandemic, and surged further in 2020. The high indebteness raises concerns whether it will undermine future growth prospects. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate by examining what happens to economic...