The global recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting deterioration in many countries’ public finances have increased the risk of sovereign debt crises. Although crisis prevention remains paramount, these developments have made it imperative to re-examine the adequacy of the...

This paper follows up on the Executive Board's December 2002 discussion of the design of the Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism and seeks to make further progress on the formulation of a concrete proposal for a statutory sovereign debt restructuring mechanism

A mechanism to restructure the debt of an insolvent euro country is a missing element in the emerging institutional architecture of the euro area. The introduction of an insolvency procedure for sovereigns faces a dilemma: In the foreseeable future, its introduction would risk pushing Europe...

The Eurozone official sector has declared that the belated restructuring of Greek bonds held by private sector creditors in 2012 was a “unique and exceptional” event, never, ever to be repeated in any other Eurozone country. Maybe so. But if this assurance proves in time to be as fragile as...

The Eurozone sovereign debt crisis began in the spring of 2010. Seven years on seems like an appropriate point at which to critique how the crisis has been handled and to assess whether policy changes will be required should it flare up again. In particular, there are a number of lessons to be...

European economic governance is again under the spotlight. Several reform proposals have been put forward in recent years, including new arrangements for the management and resolution of sovereign debt crises. This note purports to: (a) critically review earlier debates on the reform of the...