Download or read book Debt Relief for Low Income Countries written by International Monetary Fund and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper describes the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and suggests that it should enable HIPCs to exit from the debt-rescheduling process. It argues that implementation of the Initiative should eliminate debt as an impediment to economic development and growth and enable HIPC governments to focus on the difficult policies and reforms required to remove the remaining impediments to achieving sustainable development. The paper describes the implementation of the Initiative through the end of September 1998.

Download or read book Further Debt Relief for Low Income Countries Key Issues and Preliminary Considerations written by International Monetary Fund. Policy Development and Review Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2005-10-03 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The International Monetary and Finance Committee at its 2004 Annual Meetings called on the international community to provide assistance including “further debt relief” to low-income countries for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It reaffirmed the Fund’s “important role” in supporting lowincome countries and called on the Fund to consider “further debt relief and its financing.” More impetus for this request was provided by various recent proposals (summarized in Annex I). At their meeting in London in February, G7 Finance Ministers expressed their willingness to provide as much as 100 percent multilateral debt relief.

Download or read book Debt Relief for Low Income Countries and the HIPC Initiative written by Mr.Anthony R. Boote and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1997-03-01 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The paper describes the debt burden of low-income countries and the traditional mechanisms that have been implemented by the international community to alleviate this burden. While these mechanisms are sufficient to reduce the external debts of many heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) to sustainable levels provided these countries implement sound economic policies, they are likely insufficient for a number of countries. To deal with these cases, the World Bank and the IMF have jointly proposed and implemented the HIPC Initiative. The paper describes this Initiative and suggests that it should enable HIPCs to exit from the debt rescheduling process.

Download or read book The Dynamic Implications of Debt Relief for Low Income Countries written by Mr.Ales Bulir and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2011-07-01 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The effects of debt relief on incentives to accumulate debt, consume, and invest are an important concern for donors and recipients. Using a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model of a small open economy with a minimum consumption requirement and an endogenous relief probability, we show that excessive debt accumulation is consistent with an anticipation of a future debt relief. Simulations of the calibrated model using 1982-2006 Ugandan data suggest that debt-relief episodes are likely to have only a temporary impact on the level of debt in low-income countries, while being associated with more consumption and less invesment. The long-run debt-to-GDP ratio is estimated to be about twice as high with debt relief than without it.

Download or read book Debt Relief Additionality and Aid Allocation in Low Income Countries written by Mr.Robert Powell and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2003-09-01 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper models the resource implications of debt relief provided to low-income countries (LICs). Obtaining debt relief does not necessarily lead to individual aid-dependent countries receiving more overall resources from the donor community. Preliminary cross-section estimates suggest that debt relief provided to low-income countries in the period 1996 2000 neither crowded out other non-debt relief-related aid flows to the debtors concerned nor created significant extra net resources for those countries. While it is too early to fully assess the resource implications of the enhanced HIPC Initiative, this paper provides a possible approach to such an evaluation.

Download or read book From Toronto Terms to the HIPC Initiative written by Ms.Christina Daseking and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1999-10-01 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The low-income country debt crisis had its origins in weak macroeconomic policies, and official creditors’ willingness to take risks unacceptable to private lenders. Payments problems were initially addressed through nonconcessional reschedulings and new lending that maximized financing while containing the budgetary costs for creditors. This led to an unsustainable buildup in debt stocks. More recently, debt ratios have improved, reflecting both adjustment and substantial debt relief. The paper estimates debt relief initiatives since 1988 have cost creditors at least $30 billion, and possibly much more. This compares with the estimated costs of about $27 billion under the enhanced HIPC Initiative.

Download or read book Essays on Debt Relief for Low Income Countries written by Alma Lucía Romero-Barrutieta and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Can Debt Relief Boost Growth in Poor Countries written by International Monetary Fund and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2005-09-09 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, launched in 1999 by the IMF and the World Bank, was the first coordinated effort by the international financial community to reduce the foreign debt of the world’s poorest countries. It was based on the theory that economic growth in heavily indebted poor countries was being stifled by heavy debt burdens, making it virtually impossible for these countries to escape poverty. However, most of the empirical research on the effects of debt on growth has lumped together a diverse group of countries, and the literature on the countries’ impact of debt on poor is scant. This pamphlet presents the findings of the authors’ empirical research into the subject, analyzing the channels through which debt affects growth in low-income countries.

Download or read book Debt Relief for the Poorest Countries written by Yiagadeesen Samy and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Debt Relief for Low Income Countries The Enhanced HIPC Initiative written by Kamau Thugge and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Public Debt Vulnerabilities in Low Income Countries The Evolving Landscape written by International Monetary Fund and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2015-09-11 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first joint IMF/World Bank report on public debt vulnerabilities in low income countries (LICs). It examines debt-related developments and their underlying causes since the onset of the global financial crisis. The findings will inform the upcoming review of the IMF/WB debt sustainability framework for LICs. Over this period, improved macroeconomic performance in LICs, combined with HIPC/MDRI debt relief and high demand for commodities, contributed to improved LIC creditworthiness. At the same time, new borrowing opportunities emerged as a result of the accommodative liquidity conditions in international capital markets, the deepening of domestic financial markets for some LICs, and the growing lending activities of non-Paris Club countries. These new financing possibilities helped mitigate the decline in Paris Club lending to LICs and have been associated with a shift toward greater reliance on non-concessional credit. The changing financing landscape has been most significant for frontier LICs.

Download or read book Debt Sustainability in Low Income Countries written by Yasemin Bal Gunduz and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2017-05-09 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper estimates the determinants of external debt distress in low-income countries (LICs), disentangling the roles of institutions, shocks, and policies. The most prominent factors in raising the risk of debt distress are the weak protection of private property rights, adverse shocks to real non-oil commodity prices, and a high debt burden. Results also suggest that weak economic institutions tend to raise the probability of debt distress through persistently weak economic policies and high vulnerability to external shocks. The model enables a more granular analysis of debt sustainability in LICs and has a higher predictive power compared to the earlier scant literature.

Download or read book Applying the Debt Sustainability Framework for Low Income Countries Post Debt Relief written by World Bank and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2006-06-11 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In April 2006, the Executive Boards of the Bank and the Fund reviewed the debt sustainability framework (DSF) for low-income countries and the implications of the multilateral debt relief initiative. Directors thought that the DSF was broadly appropriate and that no major changes were warranted, but saw scope for additional guidance on the application of the framework in a context where the apparent borrowing space created by debt relief raises new challenges in terms of policy advice. Most Directors supported a case-by-case approach for assessing the appropriate pace of debt accumulation in countries with debt below the DSF thresholds, but requested the development of specific recommendations on the implementation of such a case-by-case approach.

Download or read book Debt Relief and Beyond written by Carlos A. Primo Braga and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2009-10-02 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of debt relief goes back several decades. It reveals that a country s accumulation of unsustainable debt stems from such factors as deficiencies in macroeconomic management, adverse terms-of-trade shocks, and poor governance. Debt-relief initiatives have provided debt-burdened countries with the opportunity for a fresh start, but whether the benefits of debt relief can be preserved depends on transformations in a country s policies and institutions. In 1996, the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative was launched as the first comprehensive, multilateral, debt-relief framework for low-income countries. In 2005, the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative was established, which increased the level of debt relief provided to HIPCs. As of early 2009, assistance through these two initiatives had been committed to 35 countries and amounted to US$117 billion in nominal terms, or half of the 2007 GDP of these countries. 'Debt Relief and Beyond' assesses the implications of debt relief for low-income countries and how its benefits can be preserved and used to fight poverty. The chapter authors bring unique operational experience to their examination of debt relief, debt sustainability, and debt management. Several key questions are addressed, including, what consequences does debt relief have for poverty-reducing expenditures, growth, and access to finance? Can debt relief guarantee debt sustainability? How can debt management at all levels of government be improved? What lessons can be learned from countries that have experienced debt restructuring? Finally, this book provides sound empirical evidence using current econometric techniques.

Download or read book Proposals for Enhancing Assistance to Low income Countries that Face Exceptional Difficulties written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1988 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The principal focus of this paper is on low-income countries that face exceptional difficulties. These countries' prospects for reviving sustainable growth are limited unless they make significant improvements in their domestic policies and receive increased external financial assistance. This paper recognizes that alleviating the problems of low-income countries that face exceptional difficulties requires improvements in the external economic environment, stronger policy adjustments and a substantial increase in resource flows.

Download or read book A Debt Overhang Model for Low Income Countries written by Junko Koeda and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2006-10 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The paper presents a theoretical model to explain how debt overhang is generated in low-income countries and discusses its implications for debt relief. The paper indicates that the extent of debt overhang, and the effectiveness of debt relief, would depend on a recipient country's initial economic conditions and level of total factor productivity.

Download or read book Update on the Financing of the Fund s Concessional Assistance and Debt Relief to Low Income Countries written by International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2018-04-24 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Fund is adapting its framework for providing support to low-income countries (LICs) amid rising vulnerabilities. Despite a global economic upswing, many LICs continue to face difficult fiscal and external positions, aggravated by increasing debt levels and natural disasters in many countries. In this context, the Executive Board approved in May 2017 higher annual access limits under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) for balance of payment needs arising from large natural disasters and in May 2017 decided to keep the list of Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT)-eligible countries unchanged notwithstanding rising per capita income levels. A comprehensive review of PRGT facilities is underway to consider potential adaptations of program modalities and access policies. PRGT demand in 2017 was above the historical average for the third year in a row. New commitments totaled SDR 1.7 billion, the highest level since the global financial crisis. Demand is expected to moderate somewhat in 2018. Longer-term demand estimates are broadly unchanged from last year’s update, and remain generally consistent with the self-sustaining PRGT financing framework adopted in 2012. Loan resources have been successfully replenished, while subsidy contributions remain somewhat below pledged amounts. The 2015 fundraising round mobilized slightly more than the initial target of SDR 11 billion in new loan resources from 15 PRGT lenders, which should provide adequate loan resources into the next decade. By contrast, progress has been limited in collecting the remaining pledged resources for subsidizing the interest on PRGT credit. The PRGT self-sustained capacity remains intact. The PRGT’s self-sustained long term average annual lending capacity is estimated at SDR 1.31 billion, broadly unchanged from last year’ estimate. While capacity estimates are sensitive to a variety of factors, they remain relatively close to the target of SDR 11⁄4 billion under a number of shocks. The Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCR Trust) remains underfunded. Funding is below the original targeted amount of new bilateral contributions totaling US$150 million, and the gap is more sizeable when considering the increase of members’ quotas under the 14th General Review of Quotas. To meet funding needs for future qualifying catastrophe relief, it is important that countries with outstanding pledges fulfill their commitments and for additional countries to come forward. Additional financing would be required to provide debt relief to members with protracted arrears. Debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Counties (HIPC) Initiative is winding up, with only two potentially eligible countries left with outstanding Fund credit. These are the protracted arrears cases of Somalia and Sudan. Additional resources would be required to finance the Fund’s participation in debt relief when these countries are ready to undertake the HIPC Initiative process"