Hidden Debt : Solutions to Avert the Next Financial Crisis in South Asia

Front Cover -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Executive Summary -- Spotlight ES.1 -- Abbreviations -- Overview -- Analytical Framework -- Empirical Findings -- Policy Recommendations -- Notes -- References -- 1 Public-Private Partnerships in South Asia: Managing the Fiscal Risks from Hidden Liabilities While Delivering Efficiency Gains -- The Need to Carefully Manage the Fiscal and Economic Risks of PPPs -- Balancing the Efficiency Gains from PPPs against Their Risks and Liabilities -- Booming Infrastructure PPPs, Their Country and Sector Distribution, and Signs of Distress in South Asia -- Fiscal Risks from Contingent Liabilities Due to Early Termination of PPPs -- Features of Contract Design That Matter: Exploring the Link between PPP Contract Design and Early Terminations of Highway PPPs in India -- Improving Government Capacity, Due Diligence, and Contract Design to Better Manage the Fiscal Risks of the Growing PPP Programs in South Asia -- Annex 1A. Methodology to Determine the Value at Risk of a Public-Private Partnership -- Annex 1B. Definitions of Variables -- Annex 1C. Distribution of South Asian Public-Private Partnership Projects by Sector -- Annex 1D. Imputing the Missing Values for Predictions -- Annex 1E. Model Selection -- Annex 1F. Estimation Tables -- Notes -- References -- 2 State-Owned Banks versus Private Banks in South Asia: Agency Tensions, Susceptibility to Distress, and the Fiscal and Economic Costs of Distress -- The Upsides and Downsides of State-Owned Commercial Banks -- The Omnipresence of State-Owned Commercial Banks in South Asia -- Bank Business Models by Ownership Type: The Example of India -- Understanding Bank Distress and Its Main Factors -- Analyzing the Effect of Firms' Banking with SOCBs Compared with Private Banks -- Policy Recommendations -- Annex 2A. Methodology for Determining Bank Distress.