Debt Sustainability

Presentation, October 2016

South Centre Presentation to the Special Event of the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly

UNCTAD organized a special event of the Second Committee of the United Nations General Assembly on 26 October 2016 in New York on “SOVEREIGN DEBT RESTRUCTURINGS: Lessons learned from legislative steps taken by certain countries and other appropriate action to reduce the vulnerability of sovereigns to holdout creditors”. Ms. Yuefen Li, Special Advisor on Economics and Development Finance of the South Centre, spoke as a panelist and alerted the UN Member States of the current legislative challenges facing the sovereigns when it comes to the need for sovereign debt restructuring including the impact of the plurilateral and bilateral trade and investment agreements.

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Policy Brief 26, June 2016

Debt Dynamics in China – Serious problems but an imminent crisis is unlikely

Recently, there have been many articles in the international media predicting that China is facing an imminent financial/debt crisis worse than the 2008 US sub-prime crash. However, a closer look at the debt dynamics in China highlights some fundamental differences be-tween the debt situation of the source country of the 2008 global financial crisis and that of China. (more…)

Investment Policy Brief 2, July 2015

Crisis, Emergency Measures and the Failure of the ISDS System: The Case of Argentina

This brief gives an account of Argentina’s experience with investor-state dispute settlement in 2001-2014. Between 2002 and 2007, Argentina was the subject of a quarter of all the cases initiated within the framework of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention. These cases were triggered by changes within the regulatory framework for international investments –particularly in sectors related to the provision of public services– as a result of the implementation of a package of measures aimed at tackling one of the worst economic crises in Argentina’s history. (more…)

Policy Brief 19, July 2015

Financing for Development Conference 2015: A View from the South

On 19 July 2014 the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations agreed on a draft of a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, taking the first steps toward a renewed development agenda for after 2015. The effort to agree on the SDGs was the follow up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), whose end-date is 2015. Aside from the 17 specific goals, the draft SDGs included 169 associated targets. (more…)

Statements, 3-5 February 2015

South Centre Statements on Sovereign Debt Restructuring Processes

The following are two Statements presented by the South Centre on Options for moving forward and Crisis Resolution & International Debt Workout Mechanisms for a multilateral legal framework for sovereign debt restructuring processes. (more…)

Research Paper 60, January 2015

Internationalization of Finance and Changing Vulnerabilities in Emerging and Developing Economies

After a series of crises with severe economic and social consequences in the 1990s and early 2000s, emerging and developing economies (EDEs) have become even more closely integrated into what is widely recognized as an inherently unstable international financial system. Both policies in these countries and a highly accommodating global financial environment have played a role. Not only have their traditional cross-border linkages been deepened and external balance sheets expanded rapidly, but also foreign presence in their domestic credit, bond, equity and property markets has reached unprecedented levels. (more…)

Research Paper 57, November 2014

Globalization, Export-Led Growth and Inequality: The East Asian Story

Over the last three decades, several East Asian economies have grown by leaps and bounds. The success of their export-led growth model is regarded, and copied, by many emerging economies as a sure path to achieve high-income status. But with impressive growth came worsening inequality both in personal income and functional income distribution. (more…)

Policy Brief 16, September 2014

Resolving Debt Crises: How a Debt Resolution Mechanism Would Work

The issue of foreign debt has made a major comeback. This is due to the crisis in Europe, in which many countries had to seek big bailouts to keep them from defaulting on their loan payments.

Before this, debt crises have been associated with African and Latin American countries. In 1997-99, three East Asian countries also joined the indebted countries’ club. (more…)

Statement, 10 April 2014

Statement to the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 24, Washington DC

Weak and uncertain global economic conditions

Before the world economy has been able to fully recover from the crisis that began more than five years ago, there is a widespread fear that we may be poised for yet another crisis, this time in emerging economies. (more…)

Research Paper 50, February 2014

Crisis Mismanagement in the United States and Europe: Impact on Developing Countries and Longer-Term Consequences

There are two major failings in policy interventions in the crisis in the US and Europe: the reluctance to remove the debt overhang through timely, orderly and comprehensive restructuring and the shift to fiscal austerity after an initial reflation.  These have resulted in excessive reliance on monetary means with central banks entering uncharted policy waters, including zero-bound interest rates and the acquisition of long-term public and private bonds.  (more…)

Research Paper 48, June 2013

Waving Or Drowning: Developing Countries After The Financial Crisis

Not only has the “Great Recession” led to a “Great Slowdown” in developing countries, but also their longer-term growth prospects are clouded by global structural imbalances and fragilities that culminated in the current crisis. (more…)

Reprint Series 1 on Financial Liberalization, December 2012

Financial Liberalization: The Key Issues.

In recent years financial policies in both industrial and developing countries have put increased emphasis on the market mechanism. Liberalization was partly a response to developments in the financial markets themselves: as these markets innovated to get round the restrictions placed on them, governments chose to throw in the towel. More important, however, governments embraced liberalization as a doctrine. (more…)