The empirical evidence on the impact of international interest rates on emerging market (EM) bond spreads is mixed. In this article, we closely examine the 2000–2009 period and find a negative relationship between U.S. interest rates and EM bond spreads. We argue that the relationship between...

During the past three years the frontier markets of sub-Saharan Africa have received growing amounts of portfolio capital flows, with heightened interest from foreign investors. Compared with foreign direct investment, portfolio capital flows tend to be more volatile, and thus pose challenges...