Despite significant progress in economic reformthroughout the 1990s, and an exemplary development of the policymaking framework in the second part of the decade, Brazil suffered a major public debt and currency crisis in 2002. Though the political origin of the uncertainty cannot be ignored, the...

The author evaluates the costs and benefits of debt and debt service reduction (DDSR) from the point of view of five countries that have concluded Brady deals: Costa Rica, Mexico, the Philippines, Uruguay, and Venezuela. He concludes that, contrary to widely held views, commercial banks have...

This paper aims at identifying and summarizing some of the factors which influence the market's differing perceptions of Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Poland. Information on market perceptions was obtained as a result of numerous interviews with commercial banks and a few...

In 1988, the prices on the secondary market of LDC debt averaged 50 cents per dollar of face value. From the observation of such discount, this paper goes one step further and argues thatthe debt should be written down in order to account for the discrepancy between the face and market value of...

The most common form of government intervention in the rural sector has been massive lending at subsidized interest rates. Credit programs generally aim to reach small farmers. However, despite the expansion of credit over the last three decades, few farmers in low income countries seem to have...

The establishment of formal agricultural credit systems in most developing countries in recent decades has been motivated by the belief that widespread shortages of short- and long-term finance have arrested agricultural growth and development. The lack of affordable formal credit has been...

A group of heavily indebted low-income countries (HIPCs), most in Sub-Saharan Africa, has continued to experience external debt problems. Because the HIPCs'economic characteristics and external imbalances are very different from those of middle-income countries, the analysis of debt problems and...

This report shows empirically that international differences in withholding tax rates are indeed largely reflected in bank credit terms. Using a sample of 510 loans to 14 debtor nations originated between 1971 and 1981, the author finds that the developing countries have been able to reduce...

The worldwide slowdown in growth after 1975 was a major negative fiscal shock. Slower growth lowers the present value of tax revenues and primary surpluses and thus makes a given level of debt more burdensome. Most countries failed to adjust to the negative fiscal consequences of the growth...

Using panel data econometric techniques to examine the case for external debt relief, this report explores the relations between measures of creditworthiness and debt discounts on the secondary markets. It finds, however, that secondary market values tend to reflect past difficulties, not...