Over the last five years, most Latin American governments have made considerable strides in managing the composition of their public debt, while reducing their foreign-currency exposure. Issuing public debt in local currency is not new for Latin America; what is new, however, is the widespread...

The “raw materials curse” is far from being an inevitability, as shown by Norway and Chile. Both examples offer valuable lessons to developing countries on how to sensibly manage mining and oil resources. Following Norway’s example, Chile could build upon its experience and become a key...

Financial actors from developing countries are playing with other OECD financial giants as equals through their Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs). SWFs could become major actors of development finance if they chose to allocate 10 per cent of their portfolio to emerging and developing economies over...

During the 1990s and the 2000s a variety of crises affected the stability of international capital markets: from the European Monetary System crisis in 1992-93 and the emerging market crises to today’s financial crisis have been present in the arenas of capital markets. These crises stimulated...

The Democratic Banker (03/2007) (Other Languages : FR / ES) Policy Insights No.38 by Javier Santiso Banks contribute not only to the economic development of emerging countries but also to political development. International bank flows in an emerging country tend to grow during the three years...

China's growing influence on Africa and on Latin America has, to some extent, overshadowed the rise of another emerging market giant in the East: India. This other Asian emerging presence is also symbolic of the rapid redesigning of the global economic map. Europe, Japan and the United States...

African countries face high youth unemployment and a skills shortage. Technical and vocational systems in Africa are poorly funded and managed. Skill-development strategies need to be integrated into poverty-reduction strategies and focused on sectors with promising employment prospects.

Thirty-eight sub-Saharan African countries have implemented privatisations programmes. The privatisation process is still far from complete and has led to mixed results. The lessons learned from past privatisations allow the identification of elements that could contribute to future success.

In order for microfinance institutions to reach more poor people they should become an integral part of the financial sector, and develop as sound domestic intermediaries. They should go commercial, broadening their client basis and scaling up their loans to small enterprises. Will it mean that...

The focus on war and anecdotal evidence hides real progress towards more stable and open political systems in Africa. This is demonstrated by a new indicator based on a systematic screening of political events and decisions over the last ten years. The diagnosis for 2004 and 2005 is more...