International Debt: Systemic Risk and Policy Response

by William R. Cline

Now available directly IIE 11 Dupont Circle, NW Washington, DC 20036 (202) 328-9000 This book traces the origins of international debt and recent trends that burden it, including the effect of oil price shocks, high interest rates, and world recession. It examines the extent of the financial system's vulnerability, and the adequacy of bank regulation and of central bank coverage for emergency lending to international banks. Recent international rescue measures mounted for the major developing countries are discussed, and the prospects for orderly servicing of the debt during the next three years are reviewed under alternative assumptions about world economic conditions to determine whether the problem is one of short-term illiquidity or longer-term insolvency. The book also notes the implications of reduced bank lending for growth in developing countries and, by induced effects on trade, in industrial countries. It con

348 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1984