Recent financial crises, such as in East Asia in the late 1990s, in Latin America during the 1980s, in Mexico in 1994, and in Russia in 1998, have led to recognition, by both policy makers and academics, of the importance of a sound domestic debt market in supporting financial and economic...

Per the invitation of the 2008 China-US Forum and Gala Organizers, the author shared China's experience on financial reform and opening-up over the past three decades on a step-by-step basis. During this process, China has created some unique financial structures that may well be worth looking...

Bond markets play an essential part in economies. As part of a diversified financial system, a well-developed domestic bond market can help provide the long-term financing needed for sustainable growth. It can also produce broad-ranging benefits throughout the economy. In South Asia the...

Islamic finance is a fast growing activity in world markets. This paper provides a survey on Islamic Finance in SSA. Ongoing activities include Islamic banking, sukuk issuances (to finance infrastructure projects), Takaful (insurance), and microfinance. While not yet significant in most...

Discussions at the 11th OECD-WBG-IMF Global Bond Market Forum focused on four key areas: i) the impact of crisis-related measures and the potential implications of exit; ii) the measurement of sovereign risk; iii) the determinants of investor demand; and iv) debt managers’ response to the...

An increasing number of central banks have started to explore central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Although CBDCs are developing rapidly and well defined, they are not always well understood. This paper helps clarify how CBDCs fit into the wide range of digital monies/digital payments,...

For nearly three decades, China has achieved an economic miracle. China's official GDP per capita increased almost tenfold, from about US$150 in 1978 to US$1,449 in 2005. China's growth measured by the purchasing power parity (PPP) has been even more impressive. The GDP per capita in terms of...

Bond markets play an essential part in economies. As part of a diversified financial system, a well-developed domestic bond market can help provide the long-term financing needed for sustainable growth. It can also produce broad-ranging benefits throughout the economy. In South Asia the...

African bond markets have been steadily growing in recent years, but nonetheless remain undeveloped. African countries would benefit from greater access to financing and deeper financial markets. This paper compiles a unique set of data on corporate bond markets in Africa. It then applies an...

Despite relatively fast economic growth over the past few years, Cape Verde’s public debt to GDP ratio has risenrapidly. Achieving an appropriate balance among public investment, growth, and debt sustainability has become a priority for the Cape Verdean authorities. The IMF-World Bank...