What is an optimal or a sustainable external debt - for a country, region or sector? How should one monitor and evaluate debt to preclude a crisis? We use stochastic optimal control/dynamic programming to derive an optimal debt. The deviation of the actual from the optimal will serve as a...

We provide benchmarks to evaluate what is an optimal foreign debt and a maximal foreign debt (debt-max), when risk is explicitly considered. When the actual debt exceeds debt-max, then the economy will default when a bad shock occurs. This paper is an application of the stochastic optimal...

This paper discusses the Islamic Republic of Mauritania’s Sixth Review under the Three-Year Extended Credit Facility Arrangement and Request of Nonobservance of Performance Criterion. Mauritania’s current account deficit has been significantly widened due to higher infrastructure...