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Blog Post
October 04, 2022
The World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings begin next week—against a backdrop of mounting economic crises and uncertainty. How can we reduce global debt? Rethink the MDB/IMF system to address pressing issues like pandemics, climate change, and food security? Support poor countries where they need the most a...
Blog Post
September 14, 2022
In March, the World Bank estimated that a dozen developing countries could default on their debt over the next 12 months. The warning signs are everywhere. Investors have pulled $50 billion from emerging-market bond funds this year, and the debt of nearly one-third of these countries is trading at d...
Blog Post
May 03, 2022
In a recent note, we asked whether IDA, the arm of the World Bank that provides concessional lending to the poorest countries, has the right approach for determining the balance between grants and loans which its recipients receive. We noted that IDA concessionality depends on the level of recipient...
Blog Post
April 22, 2022
Global debt has reached an unprecedented high, surpassing levels experienced in the infamous 1980s crisis. For debt-burdened countries, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted their repayment capacity due to increased crisis spending. Low-income countries (LICs) are experiencing the brunt of thi...
Blog Post
April 20, 2022
In 2021, Ghana announced a plan to issue sovereign bonds of up to $2 billion, with proceeds due partially to fund a free secondary school program. Just months later, Ghana’s rising debt burden means this is no longer feasible. Can developing countries tap the social bond market in order to fund publ...
Blog Post
January 18, 2022
When the pandemic first struck, dealing with excessive debt and debt service burdens of developing countries figured prominently on the international response agenda. The G20 produced the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI)—a program to defer official debt service due by mostly low-income coun...
Blog Post
December 15, 2021
This blog explores the extent to which countries use out of date information to estimate GDP and finds that low-income country (LICs) GDP could be a third higher than currently believed, and that lower middle-income country (LMICs) GDP could be over a quarter higher. In total, this would mean that 7...
Blog Post
November 10, 2021
Last Friday, the Government of Belize alongside the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the Nature Conservancy (TNC) announced the financial close of the largest blue bond for Ocean Conservation to date. The program enables Belize to convert its existing Eurobond (i.e. foreign currency bo...
CGD NOTES
October 12, 2021
The phrase “giving with one hand while taking with the other” has rarely been more appropriate than in examining the UK’s recent approach to the aid budget. Under current plans, by increasing its contributions to the IMF’s concessional lending pot, the UK will actually reduce the amount of aid avail...