Clavijo Vergara analyses the dynamics of Colombia's public and external debt over the period 1997-2003. He argues that a proper assessment of debt sustainability requires that the cost of serving the debt is computed on a gross basis (i.e. including the interest payments on intra-governmental...

Martner and Tromben argue that in Latin American countries the threats to debt sustainability originate in the pro-cyclical bias of fiscal policies. The threats are reinforced by the difficulty that these countries experience in borrowing with long-term maturity domestically or in borrowing in...