International debt relief continues to be a highly controversial subject. Although many heavily indebted poor countries have received large amounts of debt relief over the past quarter of a century, it doesn’t appear to be enough. This book examines the impact of international debt relief efforts since 1990. It assesses whether the various debt relief modalities have enhanced economic growth in eight highly indebted countries in Latin America and Africa. Dijkstra argues that fundamental changes of the international aid and debt architecture are necessary to stop the flow of new multilateral loans and the possible perverse effects of conditionality.

In 1996, the IMF and the World Bank introduced the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative—a comprehensive debt relief program aimed at reducing the external debt burden of eligible countries to sustainable levels, provided they carry out strong programs of macroeconomic adjustment and structural reforms designed to promote growth and reduce poverty. Now that the HIPC Initiative is nearly completed, this paper investigates whether the initiative managed to spur growth, either directly or indirectly through investment. In contrast to earlier studies, we conclude that there is some evidence of positive effects of the HIPC Initiative on growth. Such evidence suggests that the HIPC Initiative and MDRI have helped HIPC-eligible countries to reach higher growth, but it remains unclear whether this is through higher investment or another channel. Also, the analysis illustrates that it is hard to disentangle pure debt-relief effects from other concurrent factors.

The debt problems of poor countries are receiving unprecedented attention. Both federal and non-governmental organizations alike have been campaigning for debt forgiveness for poor countries. The governments of creditor nations responded to that challenge at a meeting sponsored by the G-7, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank, all of which upgraded debt relief as a policy priority. Their initiatives provided for generous interpretations of these nations' abilities to sustain debt, gave them opportunities to qualify for debt relief more rapidly, and linked debt relief to broader policies of poverty reduction. Despite this, the crisis has only deepened in the first years of the new millennium. This brilliant group of contributions assesses why this has occurred. In plain language, it considers why debt relief has been so long in coming for poor countries. It evaluates the cost of a persistent overhang in debt for those countries. It also examines, head on, whether enhanced debt relief initiatives offer a permanent exit from over-indebtedness, or are merely a short-term respite. Above all, this volume for the first time addresses the issues on the ground: that is, the views and opinions about debt relief on the part of leaders in advanced nations, and the probability of further support for the most impoverished lands. In this approach, the editors and contributors have made an explicit and successful attempt to be inclusive and relevant at all stages of the analysis. This volume covers the full range of the poorest countries, with contributions by John Serieux, Lykke Anderson and Osvaldo Nina, Befekadu Degefe, Ligia Maria Castro-Monge, and Peter B. Mijumbi. Collectively, they offer a sobering scenario: unless measures are put in place now, in anticipation of further crises, the future of the very poorest nations will remain bleak and troublesome.

Rising debt vulnerabilities in low- and middle-income countries have rekindled interest in a Brady Plan-style mechanism to facilitate debt restructurings. To inform this debate, this paper analyzes the impact of the original Brady Plan by comparing macroeconomic outcomes of 10 Brady countries to 40 other emerging markets and developing economies. The paper finds that following the first Brady restructuring in 1990, Brady countries experienced substantial declines in public and external debt burdens and a sharp pick-up in output and productivity growth, anchored by a comparatively strong structural reform effort. The impact of the Brady Plan on overall debt burdens was many times greater than initial face value reductions, indicating the existence of a “Brady multiplier.” Brady restructurings took longer to complete than non-Brady restructurings. Today, similar mechanisms could be helpful in delivering meaningful debt stock reduction when solvency challenges are acute, but Brady-style mechanisms alone would not solve existing challenges in the sovereign debt landscape, including those related to creditor coordination, domestic barriers to economic reforms, and the increased prevalence of domestic debt, among others.

The Book Caters To Undergraduate And Graduate Students In Management Schools In India And Most Asian And Latin American Universities For Core Or Elective Paper, And Will Also Prove Useful To Them As Practising Managers Since It Develops New Concepts Deriv

In 2023, the combined GDP of the LDCs was 10 per cent below the level it would have reached had the pre-pandemic (2010-2019) growth trend been sustained. As a result, at least an additional 15 million people in LDCs are now living in extreme poverty, with their governments severely constrained in their ability to sustain adequate investments in public services or invest in advancing development progress. The Report highlights the urgent need for concerted action to restore fiscal space in LDCs through the lasting resolution of the debt crisis, reform of the international financial architecture, and the mobilization of climate finance to enable needed investments towards low-carbon transition and green structural transformation. Without which, the SDGs and sustainable development cannot be realised. The Report advances several recommendations aimed at advancing the reform of global development finance, which in its current state, is deficient in terms of its quantity, quality, structure, cost and ease of accessibility. The Report also contains a detailed analysis of the possible role of central banks in shaping the financing of sustainable development and green structural transformation in LDCs. While the contribution of central banks to dealing with climate change has been discussed in developed countries, this is the first time this type of analysis is done in the context of the LDCs.

Sovereign debt is necessary for states to function, yet its impact on human rights is underexplored. Bantekas and Lumina gather experts to conclude that imposing structural adjustment programmes exacerbates debt, injures the entrenched rights of peoples and their state's economic sovereignty, and worsens the borrower's economic situation.