Despite relatively fast economic growth over the past few years, Cape Verde’s public debt to GDP ratio has risenrapidly. Achieving an appropriate balance among public investment, growth, and debt sustainability has become a priority for the Cape Verdean authorities. The IMF-World Bank...

Bond markets play an essential part in economies. As part of a diversified financial system, a well-developed domestic bond market can help provide the long-term financing needed for sustainable growth. It can also produce broad-ranging benefits throughout the economy. In South Asia the...

African bond markets have been steadily growing in recent years, but nonetheless remain undeveloped. African countries would benefit from greater access to financing and deeper financial markets. This paper compiles a unique set of data on corporate bond markets in Africa. It then applies an...

Islamic finance is a fast growing activity in world markets. This paper provides a survey on Islamic Finance in SSA. Ongoing activities include Islamic banking, sukuk issuances (to finance infrastructure projects), Takaful (insurance), and microfinance. While not yet significant in most...

Discussions at the 11th OECD-WBG-IMF Global Bond Market Forum focused on four key areas: i) the impact of crisis-related measures and the potential implications of exit; ii) the measurement of sovereign risk; iii) the determinants of investor demand; and iv) debt managers’ response to the...

Weak government cash management is a common issue in many developing countries. The lack of an adequate government cash management can generate negative impact both on the government and on the overall economy. It has become critical for developing countries with cash management problems to...

This paper analyzes some major developmental issues in the specific areas of the Armenian banking sector (particularly raised by the Armenian authorities) and insurance sector and provides recommendations for addressing those issues. The paper argues that over the past seven years, the Armenian...

This paper first analyzes the major impediments for SMEs in China to access finance. It then examines the evolution, categories, legal basis, operating characteristics, and key concerns of credit guarantee schemes (CGSs) in China. Finally, it provides some thoughts on how to make China's CGS...

This paper presents the main issues and key recommendations relevant to the government securities market, money market and government cash management in Serbia. In terms of the government securities market, the paper analyzes the current T-bill program, euro-denominated frozen savings (FFS)...

Recent financial crises, such as in East Asia in the late 1990s, in Latin America during the 1980s, in Mexico in 1994, and in Russia in 1998, have led to recognition, by both policy makers and academics, of the importance of a sound domestic debt market in supporting financial and economic...