Afghanistan’s development, humanitarian, and governance challenges are formidable. Afghanistan is in its transition to become self-reliant. To achieve this goal, the government requires donor support. The IMF-supported economic program tries to address key macroeconomic challenges and...

Afghanistan has made important achievements in recent years. The 2011 Article IV Consultation highlights that authorities have taken steps to lay the foundation for economic stability and growth, despite a very difficult security situation and the challenges associated with building political...

This paper starts from a discussion of the economic case for moderated government intervention in debt restructuring in the nonfinancial corporate sector. It then draws on lessons from past crises to explain three broad approaches that have been applied to corporate debt restructurings in the...

Recent theoretical literature has debated the desirability of permitting debtors to contract with lenders over control rights in bankruptcy. Proponents point to the monitoring benefits brought from concentrating control rights in the hands of a single lender. Detractors point to the costs...

This paper reviews Albania’s 2004 Article IV Consultation, Fifth Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF), Request for Extension of the Arrangement, and Financing Assurances Review. The macroeconomic performance of the Albanian economy has been remarkable by both...

Firms exit through the mutually precluding events of bankruptcy and acquisition. We use a competing risks hazard regression model to identify the characteristics leading to each of these two outcomes using over thirty years of data on US and UK quoted firms. We find evidence about the way in...

This paper provides an overview of key elements of Corporate Bankruptcy Codes and Practice around the world that are relevant to the debate on Sovereign Debt Restructuring. It highlights four components common to most bankruptcy reorganization institutions: a stay on debt collection efforts to...

Under UK Insolvency law creditors face a strategic choice when dealing with someinsolvent individual debtors. Since 1986 Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) havebeen available to return better recoveries than bankruptcy but returns are subject to agreater degree of uncertainty.In this paper...

We examine how macroeconomic instability affects risk of bankruptcy and liquidation. In periods of macroeconomic instability more firms become financially distressed, while the number of potential acquirers falls. Reorganization systems such as Chapter 11 can decouple liquidation from...

The unprecedented rise in nonperforming assets during the recent Asian financial crisis severely tested the limit and capacity of the existing asset management infrastructure, leading policymakers to consider new approaches to resolve them. This paper examines two such approaches—the creation...

Recapitalizing banks in a systemic crisis is a complex medium-term process that requires significant government intervention and careful management at both the strategic and individual bank levels. This paper highlights the range of operational and strategic issues to be addressed and the...

The risk of financial abuse is a major concern for the PGO and the Court of Protection. Master Lush has suggested that some 10‐15% of cases brought to the Court involve some element of abuse or impropriety. The study reported here analysed case files identified by PGO staff as those in which...