Mounting external indebtedness has become a major problem for many developing countries. This may be not least a result of the fact that economists and policy-makers have tended to emphasize the benefits to the recipient countries of external borrowing to the neglect of its costs.

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...

Though even in such cases there may be different opinions, it appears fairly obvious under what conditions a business is excessively indebted. However, there is hardly any agreement on the point where an entire national economy ought to be considered as overindebted. The present article...

Since the financial crisis in 2008-09, concern over the sustainability of some EU countries’ sovereign debt has continued to mount higher and higher. This paper explores the ways in which the financial crisis caused the deterioration of European debt-to-GDP ratios, examines which countries are...