Before 1988,"orthodox"policies (fiscal discipline and tight money) failed to bring inflation down and induce a sustained economic recovery. The Mexican stabilization plan announced in December 1987 (the Pact) shows that the right combination of orthodox and"heterodox"policies (for example,...

The debt burden facing a number of low-income countries has received considerable international attention. The international development community has begun to recognize that options aimed at providing debt relief to countries where debt is not sustainable needs to be seriously explored. In this...

Debt for nature swaps involve the exchange of a debtor country's external obligation for that country's agreement to use local currency instruments to support a specific environmental project, such as development of conservation management plans, training of park personnel, or environmental...

To understand the fiscal position of a country, contingent liabilities and other sources of fiscal risk need to be considered. The authors develop a framework to assess and manage fiscal risk in Bulgaria. Bulgaria's Currency Board Arrangement has effectively imposed fiscal discipline, but leaves...

The market prices of developing countries'debts are imperfect indicators of the countries'payment capacity for three reasons: the concave shape of the debt's payoff structure, the presence of third-party guarantees, and the differences in the terms of various debt claims. Claessens and Pennacchi...

Two debt crises affect developing countries. The more publicized crisis affects the middle income Baker Plan countries, including Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire. The less well known crisis affects most of Africa's 34 low income countries. Poverty and economic rigidities in the African countries make...

Some payment arrangements are more efficient in promoting economic growth in a market-based economy. The payment experience of industrial countries is diverse enough to identify those payment arrangements that provide the infrastructure for sustained growth and the emergence of market-based...

The recent rise in domestic public nonmonetary debt and in domestic bond yields is imposing a heavier burden on governments in countries like Brazil and Mexico than foreign debt does. This is a relatively new experience for developing countries but not for OECD countries. Reisen's discussion of...

Both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank recognize that sub - Saharan Africa (SSA) represents a difficult and complex development challenge. The author proposes that the Bank and the IMF take four institutional steps to deal effectively with the region's problems in the near...

This report focuses primarily on the mechanics of financing the transition from an unfunded pension scheme with equates with hidden public debt to a funded scheme which makes this debt explicit, and on the financial stocks and flows involved. Only if the problem is treated in a consistent...