This paper provides a description and analysis of recent developments in international capital markets and an assessment of the prospects for private financing flows.

This paper provides a description and analysis of recent developments in international capital (banking and bond) markets and an assessment of market conditions and prospects for financing flows, in particular

This paper, following two earlier studies, reviews the arrangements for restructuring commercial bank and official debt up to early 1985.

Experience with multilateral debt restructurings with official creditors and with international banks in the second half of the 1970s was described in External Indebtedness of Developing Countries, issued in 1981. The present paper reviews recent developments, covering the period through early...

The external indebtedness of non-oil developing countries has been of growing concern in recent years. Several factors have brought the debt issue to the forefront of the problems facing a number of countries, including the rapid rise in extenal debt in the recent past, changes in the...

Monetary policy has become increasingly important in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as fiscal adjustment and structural reforms have taken root. Inflation has been brought down to relatively low levels in almost all of these countries, raising the question of what...

Historically, countries with currency board arrangements (CBAs) have experienced lower inflation and higher growth than those with other regimes. The experiences of three candidates for EU membership with CBAs (Estonia, Lithuania, and Bulgaria) have also been generally favorable. Can CBAs serve...

Hedge funds are collective investment vehicles, often organized as private partnerships and resident offshore for tax and regulatory purposes. Their legal status places few restrictions on their portfolios and transactions, leaving their managers free to use short sales, derivative securities,...

This study addresses major policy issues associated with the future of the international monetary system. It focuses on whether there is a need for fundamental reform of this system, defined as systematic and sustained effort on the part of the three major industrial countries (United States,...