The quadrupling of oil prices since the end of 1973 was accompanied by a rapid increase in the borrowings of developing countries. A global view of their external debt situation reveals some alarming realities.

Although the European Union (EU) has implemented initiatives and common rules regarding securities settlements, no similar integration initiatives have been proposed for the issuance and initial distribution of debt securities. The EU does not function as a single market given that issuers of...

The threat of a major debt crisis is presently hanging over the international financial community like Damocles' sword. Behind the crisis lies the flood of petrodollars into the financial institutions of the industrial world since the mid 1970s and the consequent large-scale lending to...

Over the past decade the non-oil developing countries’ external debt has shown a more than threefold increase, a trend that may be expected to continue in the foreseeable future. In response to the recipient countries’ changing needs, private lending, their principal source of credit, will...

Developing countries with considerable mineral reserves might be expected to have fewer problems with debt-servicing than other developing countries lacking these resources. In fact, during the past decade a not insignificant number of the former had to apply for a rescheduling of their foreign...

The Federal Republic of Germany, together with the United States of America, is one of the most determined opponents to the developing countries' demand for a general debt moratorium (and also the UNCTAD integrated programme on commodities). However, the outcome of recent international...