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February 2008

OECD DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

Working Paper No. 268

Prudent versus Imprudent Lending to Africa:

From Debt Relief to Emerging Lenders

Helmut Reisen and Sokhna Ndoye

Research area:

Financing Development

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Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

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OU DES GOUVERNEMENTS DE SES PAYS MEMBRES

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OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 268

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................................ 4

PREFACE ...................................................................................................................................................... 5

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................... 6

RÉSUMÉ ........................................................................................................................................................ 7

I. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 8

II. WHAT IS “IMPRUDENT LENDING”. ............................................................................................. 10

III. TRENDS IN FOREIGN DEBT AND LENDING

.............................................................................. 16

IV. FOCUS ON EXPORT CREDITS ......................................................................................................... 28

V. SPOTLIGHT ON CHINA’S ROLE

...................................................................................................... 34

VI. GAUGING THE DEGREE OF “IMPRUDENT LENDING” .......................................................... 41

ANNEX: THE ROLE OF ENDOGENOUS DEBT DYNAMICS ........................................................... 44

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................. 46

OTHER TITLES IN THE SERIES/ AUTRES TITRES DANS LA SÉRIE .............................................. 49

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Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many people have been consulted for this study. We thank them all for their time given

to us. Of particular help, without implicating any of those named in the content of the study,

were (in alphabetical order) Helmut Asche (Leipzig University), Rolando Avendano (OECD

Development Centre), Deborah Brautigam (American University, Washington DC), Jean-Raphaël

Chaponnière (Agence Française de Développement), Adrian Davis (Department for International

Development, Beijing), Ulrich Jacoby (IMF), Karsten von Kleist (BIS), Jean Le Cocguic

(OECD/TAD/XCR), Richard Manning (DAC Chair), Ugo Panizza (UNCTAD), Ken Ruffing

(OECD Development Centre), Javier Santiso (OECD Development Centre), Simon Scott

(OECD/DCD), Hans Slock (ONDD, Brussels), Uwe Strangmann (KfW), Eva Terberger (KfW),

Janet West (OECD/TAD/XCR) and Bernd Wiese (ex-KfW)This paper benefited from preliminary

investigation carried out by Sophie Rivaud. The authors are grateful to Jean-Louis Combes, Jeff

Dayton-Johnson, Johannes Jütting and Jean-Philippe Platteau for many helpful comments and

suggestions on earlier drafts and to the RAND Corporation, the Ghana Statistical Service and the

World Bank LSMS office for kindly providing the data used. Any shortcomings or mistakes

remain the authors’ responsibility.

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OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 268

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PREFACE

China’s lending in Africa has been accused of undermining painstaking efforts to put

development assistance to the continent on a sustainable footing. The fear is that emerging

donors, such as China and India, are at the same time benefitting from debt-relief efforts while

adding to the debt burdens of African countries.

Consequently, China has been encouraged to raise standards of transparency in its

lending, amid concerns that a fresh build-up of loans could destabilise economies only recently

relieved of long-standing debt. This has also been the objective of the G8 Action Plan for Good

Financial Governance in Africa, which emphasises the importance of the joint World Bank-IMF

Debt Sustainability Framework as the framework of choice for the “new” donors and lenders.

This Working Paper evaluates the claim that China is “free riding” on Western debt relief

efforts and find it to be unfounded. In order to encourage China and other emerging lenders and

donors to co-operate, the paper suggests a broadening of the Debt Sustainability Framework

concept of debt sustainability to include both the growth effects of new lending that contributes

to better infrastructure, and the improvements in terms of trade and export performance

resulting from China's demand.

Javier Santiso

Acting Director and Chief Development Economist

OECD Development Centre

February 2008

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ABSTRACT

Over recent years, a number of emerging creditors have increased their aid and lending to

Africa’s Low-Income Countries (LICs). This has fed worries that new official lenders may be

undoing years of international efforts to rein in over-indebtedness in Africa, to reduce the

continent’s exposure to foreign-currency denominated debt and to encourage good governance

by making loans conditional on political and economic reforms. These worries are reflected in

the

G8 Action Plan for Good Financial Governance in Africa, which attempts to include emerging

lenders in the DSF framework — the Joint Bank-Fund Debt Sustainability Framework.

The empirical analysis of debt dynamics distinguishes three country groups: African

HIPC, HIPC-China (High China Presence), and Resource-rich IDA-only. All groups display

marked trends of lower debt ratios (in net present value terms, NPV), in most cases below debt-

distress level for even the lowest governance groups. Evidence on links between growth and

lending may even suggest that African HIPC are currently under-leveraged. Generally, there is

very little evidence of “imprudent lending” to debt relief beneficiaries in the figures up to 2006.

The Asian giants lower debt ratios a little through debt relief, but they do this even more through

stimulating exports and growth. This holds in particular for those countries towards which their

lending is mostly directed: the resource-rich countries, rather than the debt-relief beneficiaries.

JEL Codes: F21, F34, F35.

Keywords: debt, debt relief

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RÉSUMÉ

Ces dernières années, un certain nombre de créanciers émergents ont accru leurs aides et

leurs prêts en faveur des pays d'Afrique à faible revenu (LIC). On s'est dès lors inquiété que ces

nouveaux prêteurs officiels puissent défaire des années d'efforts internationaux dans le but de

ralentir le surendettement en Afrique, réduire l'exposition du continent aux devises étrangères

ainsi qu'à la dette en question et encourager une bonne gouvernance en faisant de sorte que les

emprunts dépendent des réformes politiques et économiques. Ces inquiétudes transparaissent

dans le plan d'action du G8 qui vise une bonne gouvernance financière et tente d'inclure ces

nouveaux prêteurs dans le cadre du CSD : le « Cadre de soutenabilité de la dette du FMI et de la

Banque Mondiale ».

Malheureusement, la DSF n'a pas exactement le profil pour ce type de situation : elle

encourage à indiquer dans une moindre mesure les nouveaux prêts, doit s'attacher à des

indicateurs opaques de gouvernances diverses, ne parvient pas à atteindre les déterminants

économiques généraux de la viabilité de la dette et n'arrive pas à prendre en considération les

versements et les biens publics dans ses analyses sur la viabilité de la dette.

L'analyse concrète des dynamiques de la dette distingue trois types de pays : les PPTE

africains, les PPTE chinois (pays à forte présence chinoise) et les pays emprunteurs d'IDA

uniquement riches en ressources. Tous affichent des tendances claires de faibles taux de dette (en

termes de valeur actualisée nette, VAN) et se trouvent dans la plupart des cas, sous un niveau de

détresse lié à la dette et cela même pour les pays issus du groupe aux plus faibles gouvernances.

Cette indication sur des liens entre la croissance et les prêts semblerait même indiquer que les

HIPC africains sont actuellement sous exploités.

En général, il y a peu d'indications quant aux « prêts imprudents » sur les bénéficiaires de

soulagement de la dette dans les chiffres allant jusqu'en 2006. Les géants asiatiques réduisent

légèrement les taux de dette grâce à des soulagements de la dette, mais surtout grâce à une

croissance et une exportation stimulée. Ceci vaut en particulier pour tous ces pays dont les prêts

sont le plus souvent destinés aux pays riches en ressources que ceux bénéficiaires d'un

soulagement de la dette.

Codes JEL : F21, F34, F35.

Mots clés : dette; allègement de la dette

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I. INTRODUCTION

In spring 2005, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund implemented a new

Debt Sustainability Framework (DSF) in Low-Income Countries (LICs): this seeks to provide

guidance on new lending to low-income countries whose main source of financing is official

loans. The framework has been developed with the intention of better monitoring and

preventing the accumulation of unsustainable debt in the wake of the Initiative for Heavily

Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC Initiative) and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI).

The

total amount of debt relief for African countries is expected to reach $43 billion, $31.5 billion of

which concerns the 17 African post-HIPC Initiative qualified countries (Djoufelkit-Cottenet,

2007). According to Global Development Finance 2007, the 17 African HIPC-beneficiaries had

benefited from almost $18 billion between end-2000 and end-2005

Over recent years, a number of emerging creditors have increased their aid and lending to

LICs. Sketchy evidence indicates that China has become, by a large margin, the largest creditor in

this group

. This has fed worries that new official lenders may be undoing years of international

efforts to rein in over-indebtedness in Africa, to reduce the continent’s exposure to foreign

currency-denominated debt and to encourage good governance by making loans conditional on

political and economic reforms (World Bank 2006a).

Further, government-sponsored export credit agencies (ECAs) have played a significant

and important role in lending to developing nations. Loans from export credit agencies (or

guaranteed by them) have added to the external debt problems of developing countries in the

past. Before the recent debt relief programmes, 30 to 40 per cent of developing countries’ debt

was owed to ECAs (or guaranteed by them). There are efforts under way to establish a

framework for ECA-supported lending to the countries that are most at risk of debt distress.

Those countries include HIPC and countries that receive only grants and highly concessional

credits from IDA (and not from IBRD) — the so-called IDA-only countries.

China has also granted debt relief (Qi, 2007). By 2007, China had written off total debts of RMB 16.6 billion

($2.13 billion) for 44 recipient countries (including HIPC), 31 of which are African countries, amounting to a total

write-off of RMB 10.9 billion ($1.40 billion). Another debt cancellation of RMB 10 billion ($1.28 billion) for African

countries is under negotiation and arrangement. The write-offs will total 60% of all debt obligations to China. Unlike

Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors, China does not include debt cancellation in reported aid figures.

In an effort to cast more light on the activities of new donors, the World Bank, in collaboration with the OECD DAC, the

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affa irs

(UNDESA), conducted a survey of nine developing countries (Brazil, Chile, China, India, Malaysia, Russia, South Africa,

Thailand, and Venezuela). Only three countries (Chile, Malaysia, and Thailand) have responded to the survey so far.

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In May 2007, G8 Finance Ministers released the G8 Action Plan for Good Financial

Governance in Africa containing a declaration to “commit to applying responsible practices in our

lending decisions. To this end, we urge all borrowers and creditors to share information on their

borrowing and lending practices. The DSF, developed by the IMF and the World Bank, provides

an important guiding tool for decisions on new borrowing and lending and we encourage its

broad use by all borrowers and creditors as a way to prevent new lend-and-forgive cycles”. G8

Finance Ministers have thus given a further stimulus to the DSF.

The next section will provide a definition of terms related to debt sustainability, along

with a capsule summary of the debt overhang literature and the related “free-rider” problem; it

is found that current initiatives, such as the

G8 Action Plan for Good Financial Governance in Africa,

are a belated reckoning of the collective action problem that the designers of HIPC and MDRI do

not seem to have analysed deeply enough. This paper looks then at the current debt dynamics in

Africa by distinguishing three country groups: HIPC, HIPC-HELP (HIPC with High Emerging-

Lender Presence) and Resource-rich IDA-only. The empirical work helps to gauge whether and

where the debt situation is improving or deteriorating. Special attention will be devoted to

export credits from OECD and China. Before concluding, the paper investigates the broader role

of China in Africa’s debt dynamics — not just with respect to lending amounts and lending

terms, but also to Africa’s growth, exports, currency developments and diversification. The

results are mixed; much better than “China bashers” often have us believe, but certainly not

without risks to debt sustainability in African LICs.

A word of caution is in order as to the data on which this analysis could be based. Data

have not been available with the scope, detail and timeliness necessary to carry out the empirical

analysis with confidence. Instead, we have had to arrive at results in an inventive but indirect

way, as described later. Moreover, country-by-country analysis does reveal great inconsistencies

in the debt data that are available from current mainstream sources.

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II. WHAT IS “IMPRUDENT LENDING”.

“Imprudent lending” (to a country) escapes any easy definition. The term aims at

answering a deceptively simple question: when is lending to a country becoming so large that its

debt will not be fully serviced. In other words: when does lending endanger the debt

sustainability of a country. Debt sustainability in turn encompasses the concepts of debt solvency,

of debt liquidity and of debt serviceability (Wyplosz, 2007).

•

Debt solvency is maintained when current debt does not exceed the present value of future

revenues, net of non-interest expenditures. Note the importance of “future revenues”,

which is what development is all about: to strengthen debt-service capacity through

achieving revenue growth. Government net worth can actually be increased when

borrowing serves to build growth-enhancing infrastructure.

•

Debt liquidity is maintained when liquid financial resources are large enough at any point

in time to cover liabilities due; Korea, which in 1997 became victim to a bank run during

the Asian crisis despite low external debt (ratios) may demonstrate better than any other

country the importance of the Guidotti Rule (i.e. to keep official foreign exchange reserves

higher than short-term debt at any time) for avoiding illiquidity.

•

Debt serviceability implies solvency plus liquidity at any moment. This is the strictest

definition of debt sustainability, and the one according to which the DSA seems to have

been defined, according to Wyplosz (2007).

In the LIC context, debt sustainability concerns have centred on external public debt; such

debt is often concessional and carries a grant element. Given the concessionality in loans

extended to LICs, the Net Present Value (NPV) of debt is a more relevant metric for evaluation

than the face value of debt. NPV is the discounted sum of all future debt-service obligations

(interest and principal) on existing debt. The NPV of debt is a measure that takes into account the

degree of concessionality present in the stock of debt. Important determinants of concessionality

are: the effective interest rate of a loan, the grace (amortisation-free) period, the maturity

(repayment duration), and the discount rate at which future payments are reduced to present

value. It is defined as the sum of all future debt-service obligations (interest and principal) on

existing debt, discounted at market interest rates. Whenever the interest rate on a loan is lower

than the market rate, the resulting NPV of debt is smaller than its face value, with the difference

reflecting the grant element. The grant element in year t is defined as the difference between the

debt stock and the NPV of debt, expressed as a fraction of the debt stock

(1) GE

= (D

–

NPV

)/D

NPV

= (1

–

) D

As mentioned, debt solvency considerations require that debt be scaled to country size

and economic strength. It is common to relate total debt to the GDP. Public debts are serviced out

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of government revenues, so what matters are present and future government revenues. If the

debt is external, the appropriate scaling factor is exports, but this assumes that a constant fraction

of exports can be used to service the debt. Cohen (2000) develops an empirical method that

shows that the debt-GDP ratio is the best predictor of a debt crisis (measured as a debt-

rescheduling event) when account is taken of other important country characteristics. (The Sachs-

Warner index of trade liberalisation and the liquidity of the economy reduce the likelihood of a

debt crisis.)

Any study that tries to disentangle “prudent” from “imprudent” lending has to gauge the

impact of lending on GDP growth (and/or exports and public revenues)

. It should also look at

subsequent effects on export-client and export-goods diversification that might help withstand

price and demand shocks. “Prudent lending” should enhance growth (and ultimately poverty

reduction

), in particular in African LICs where the infrastructure gap is very important. In a

recent study on sub-Saharan Africa, all infrastructure sub-sectors except sanitation are shown to

also be statistically significant engines of growth. In other words, they contribute to explain

Africa’s GDP growth prospects — in particular, telecommunications, electricity and roads

(Estache et al., 2005). The implied GDP growth elasticities obtained from estimating an

augmented Solow Growth model are 19% for telecommunications, 50% for electricity, 34% for

water and 46% for transport.

The theoretical literature on the relationship between external debt and economic growth

has focused largely on the harmful effects of a country's “debt overhang” — the accumulation of

a stock of debt so large as to threaten the country's ability to repay its past loans, which, in turn,

scares off potential lenders and investors. Pattillo et al. (2002) show that the underlying reasoning

in the debt overhang theories can enable us to infer the effect of debt accumulation on growth.

In debt overhang models, it is argued that for very large stocks of debt, the probability

that a country will repay its debt in the future decreases, thus leading to a loss of confidence of

investors, since they consider that if they invest in the debtor country’s economy, they will not

entirely reap the benefits. This argument is illustrated by an inverted-U curve (Figure 1, left

panel) called the debt “Laffer curve”: in cases where the stock of debt is not excessive (upward

slope), the investors expect the country to repay its debt first in full, then at a declining share,

which explains the build-up of a secondary market discount for quoted debt.

Note that a debt sustainability analysis that overemphasises the over-borrowing problem and underemphasises the

growth benefits of (concessional) lending will bias development assistance in favour of grants and discriminate against

soft loans. A move toward grants will deprive donors of leverage, reduce incentives for fiscal discipline and efficient

financial management, and deprive recipient countries of an aid instrument that can be used to protect against

exogenous shocks (Cohen et al., 2006).

As infrastructure shortages are very pronounced in African HIPC, investment in electricity-generating capacity and

paved roads will generate excess social returns above the country’s overall rate of return to capital (Canning and

Bennathan, 2000). The impact of infrastructure investment on poverty reduction is maximised when it is focused on rural

areas and is complementary to investment in health and education (Bourguignon, 2006).

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Figure 1: Debt Overhang, Growth and Debt Thresholds

The debt Laffer curve

Source: Pattillo et al. (2002).

When the accumulated stock of debt becomes too great (downward slope), the market

presumes that the debt owed by the country is larger than its expected repayment capacity, and

the secondary market price of the debt starts falling well below its face value. A debt overhang

produces perverse incentives for investment and growth: as the proceeds of investment would

be absorbed by the creditor, incentives to grow are gone. Hence, debt has a non-linear effect on

growth: for moderate level of debt stocks, growth is enhanced when debt is used to finance

productive investments, if the macroeconomic situation of the country allows it. The optimal

amount of debt (point B in Figure 1, right panel) is reached at a debt/export ratio of about 150 per

cent, according to Pattillo et al. (2002)

; until point A (debt/export ratio of about 75 per cent) is

reached, new lending even fosters the growth rate (the second derivative of GDP). However,

growth is harmed when the accumulation of debt is on an excessive trend, beyond point B.

Note that this finding clearly supports the growth-enhancing role of concessional lending

(from 0 to point A in Figure 1). The evidence available so far favours soft loans over both grants

and private debt flows. Firstly, soft loans have been utilised more efficiently than grants during

the past three decades, despite repeated debt crises. Secondly, global capital markets suffer from

herd behaviour among investors in good times, with excessive risk-taking by market participants

too big to fail; and, on the other hand, the liquidity needs of global investors, reinforced by

prudential regulation, often prevent them from putting small poor countries on their radar

screen (Cohen et al., 2007). Thus, reliance on private lending alone runs the risk either of pushing

the country quickly beyond point B, or of starving it of debt finance.

Debt relief, in turn, should be expected to stimulate growth (Clements et al., 2005). That is,

if a country's debt level is expected to exceed the country's repayment ability with some

probability in the future, then expected debt service is likely to be an increasing function of the

country's output level. The bulk of the returns from investing in the domestic economy would

Note that this result has a fairly low level of confidence; one explanation may be that the authors did not distinguish

sample countries according to governance scores. For countries with only weak governance scores, the optimal

debt/export ratio will be lower than 75 per cent.

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DEV/DOC(2008)4

then accrue to existing and emerging foreign creditors, thus acting as a disincentive for

investment in the over-indebted economy. The debt overhang and the benefits derived from debt

relief give rise to the “free-riding” concern, which suggests that debt relief should be viewed as a

collective action problem.

The collective action problem in dealing with debt reduction, namely that it will facilitate

repayment to other creditors, has probably not been given enough serious consideration in the

design of HIPC and MDRI debt-relief initiatives, in spite of the lessons from the Brady Initiative in

the late 1980s (Reisen, 1991). The G8 Action Plan for Good Financial Governance in Africa now tries

to cope with the consequences of the fact that the debt-relief initiatives failed to include potential

official and private creditors to the HIPC. Another lesson from the Brady Initiative was that it

helped reverse a tide of negative private capital flows, which helped to spur private investment

and growth. Successful debt relief does imply and attract new lending, both private and official.

One way to solve the collective action problem is suggested by the G8 Action Plan for Good

Financial Governance in Africa: promote the systematic use of the DSF among all creditors so that it

can serve as the basis for their lending policies. Concretely, for the creditors, that would amount

to taking into account the vulnerabilities underlined in the debt sustainability analysis conducted

for the borrowing countries, and thus, co-ordinating with their counterparts in order to lend on

the most appropriate terms according to the distress risk rating indicated in the DSAs. Creditors

targeted by this effort are those who are susceptible to lend to African HIPC on non-concessional

terms, such as new emerging official lenders and commercial creditors.

While the analytic foundation of debt thresholds can be debated, it remains true that the

HIPC thresholds provided the basis from which the international community agreed to provide

debt relief to approximately 40 LICs, and in doing so, judged these countries to have

unsustainable debt burdens. A LIC had to fulfil two criteria to become eligible for the HIPC

Initiative: to be poor, defined as a per capita income level below a certain threshold, and to have

the NPV of external debt in excess of predefined thresholds (150 per cent of exports

, and in some

cases, 250 per cent of fiscal revenues), as this was deemed to be unsustainable levels of debt.

These thresholds were based on early work, by Cohen (1996), among others, who found that the

likelihood of debt default climbed rapidly after a country’s NPV of external debt-to-export ratio

climbed above the 200-250 per cent range.

Note, however, that Figure 2 suggests clearly that the link between imprudent lending,

debt build-up and non-interest deficit is weaker than a casual look might suggest. In sub-Saharan

Africa, that link is virtually non-existent (for public debt, the bulk of external debt). Campos et al.

(2006) find, for a sample of 29 sub-Saharan countries for the period 1985-2003, that the public-

sector deficit explains only 3% of the variance in the public debt-GDP ratio (while it can explain

half of the variance for a sample of industrial countries).

In view of the rising importance of remittances to developing countries, it is important to note that these do not enter

into the computation of debt/export (service) ratios in the DSF.

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DEV/DOC(2008)4

Figure 2: Defecits Don’t Explain Much of Public Debt Ratios in Africa

Debt and Deficit: Goodness of fit

Source: Campos et al.

In contrast, growth implosions, valuation effects due to currency depreciations in the presence

of foreign currency debt, default and debt relief drive the results for African debt. Figure 2

displays the correlation coefficients between changes in public debt-GDP ratios and non-interest

public deficits for the various regional country groupings. There can be no pretence to precision

in quantifying the amount of prudent lending; ignoring such endogeneities, however, will

amount to setting thresholds that may “kill” warranted lending and growth opportunities. (For a

more formal exposition, please see Annex: The Role of Endogenous Debt Dynamics).

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DEV/DOC(2008)4

Figure 3: African HIPC

Avg. NPV Debt/Export Ratio

Avg. Debt/GDP and Avg. Debt Service/Exports

Source: World Bank, GDF (2007) (avg. % grant element per year, per country); IMF, WEO (2007) (GDP, exports, debt

stocks, debt service).

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III. TRENDS IN FOREIGN DEBT AND LENDING

The following section describes trends in debt ratios during the period 2000-06. Because

policy concerns about debt sustainability have focused on very recent developments in 2005 and

2006, the description of trends in foreign lending and external debt build-up had to rely on IMF

and Bank for International Settlements (BIS) sources, as Global Development Finance (GDF) data

by the World Bank were often not available for 2006. The data are summarised here for three

country groups, encompassing 23 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Table 1 presents the countries

and the three groupings under study. The selection and grouping were informed by Chaponnière

(2007), the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University (2007) and by unpublished

work currently being carried out at the World Bank on Chinese infrastructure lending (cited in

Bosshard, 2007). We distinguish HIPC, HIPC-CHINA and non-HIPC Resource-rich countries

Note that the distinction HIPC and HIPC-HELP is both somewhat arbitrary and time-bound as it

can change from one year to the next, for example, as a result of travel diplomacy.

III.1 Trends in Debt Ratios

As seen in Figure 3, the African HIPC have seen a continuous drop in the ratio of the net

present value of their external debt, whether as a fraction of export revenues or of GDP: solvency

has greatly improved

. Likewise, the ratio of debt service to exports has dropped, indicating

improved liquidity. The drop in the debt (service) ratios has occurred steadily since 2003.

The graphs indicate the respective (black line) lowest DSF debt distress thresholds (for

weak policy performance, CPIA < 3.5). African HIPC have reported on average NPV debt/export

ratios below the distress threshold since 2004; NPV debt/GDP ratios were below debt-distress

threshold levels throughout the entire decade; and debt service/export ratios have been below

the lowest debt-distress threshold levels since 2005. Moreover, since 2005, debt ratios have

dropped below levels that might indicate under-leverage for African HIPC if the results

presented in Figure 1 hold. How these significant improvements in average debt (service) have

come about will be discussed in the following section. It is sufficient to note here the

improvements in African HIPC debt ratios.

Due to a lack of reliable debt reporting, Equatorial Guinea has been excluded from the sample.

2006 values have been computed on the assumption that the grant elements in 2005 and 2006 were equal, as GDF data

do not yet display the 2006 data.

pg_0017

OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 268

DEV/DOC(2008)4

Table 1: Country Selection and Country Groupings

COUNTRY GROUPS

HIPC SATUS

CPIA 2005 FY 07 / DSA-based

Traffic Light

NPV / GDP

ratios 2004

HIPC

Benin

Completion point Medium

Green

Burkina Faso

Completion point

Strong

Green

Cameroon

Completion point Medium

Green

Ghana

Completion point

Strong

Green

Madagascar

Completion point Medium

Green

Malawi

Completion point Medium

Yellow

Mali

Completion point Medium

Green

Mauritania

Completion point

Weak

Green

Niger

Completion point Medium

Red

Rwanda

Completion point

Strong

Red

Senegal

Completion point

Strong

Green

Sierra Leone

Completion point Medium

Red

Tanzania

Completion point

Strong

Green

Uganda

Completion point

Strong

Green

China-heavy HIPC

Ethiopia

Completion point Medium

Yellow

Mozambique

Completion point Medium

Green

Zambia

Completion point Medium

Green

Resource-rich/ IDA only

Angola

Not eligible

Weak

Yellow

Rep. of Congo

Decision point

Weak

Red

205

Nigeria

Not eligible

n.a.

Sudan

Pre- Decision point

Weak

Red

129

Zimbabawe

Not eligible

n.a.

Source:

http://go.worldbank.org/4IMVXTQ090

(HIPC list); World Bank (2006b), Debt Dynamics and Financing Terms: A

Forward-Looking approach to IDA Grant Eligibility.

Those African HIPC that we classify as HIPC-CHINA display the same trends for both

their NPV debt/GDP ratios and their debt service/export ratios. Figure 4 provides country detail

and enables comparison with the African HIPC average debt ratios. While Zambia has seen the

biggest drop in debt and debt service ratios, Mozambique still displays a debt service/export

ratio slightly above the debt-distress thresholds set for weak CPIA scores; however, as

Mozambique actually enjoys medium CPIA scores, the appropriate debt-distress threshold

would lie at 20, not 15. Overall, any alleged China-induced deterioration of debt ratios is not (yet)

visible in the broad values.

pg_0018

Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

Figure 4: HIPC – China

NPV Debt/ GDP Ratios

Debt Service/ Export

Ratios

Source: World Bank, GDF (2007) (avg. % grant element per year, per country); IMF, WEO (2007) (GDP, debt stocks).

pg_0019

OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 268

DEV/DOC(2008)4

Figure 5: Resource-Rich Countries

NPV Debt/GDP

Debt Service/ Export Ratios

Source: World Bank, GDF (2007) (avg. % grant element per year, per country); IMF, WEO (2007) (GDP, debt stocks).

pg_0020

Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

Except Nigeria

, which is now clearly below debt-distress threshold levels for both the

NPV debt/GDP and for the debt service/exports ratios, the Resource-rich non-HIPC countries

(shown in Figure 5) have not benefited from debt relief. By 2006, without any debt relief, Angola

too managed to drop through the relevant threshold that signals debt distress. Sudan is not there

(yet), but likewise shows an important drop in both debt and debt service ratios. The Republic of

Congo and, clearly, Zimbabwe, by contrast, were characterised by trends of rising NPV

debt/GDP ratios during 2000 and 2006. As for debt service/export ratios, they deteriorated in

2005, except in oil-exporting Angola and Sudan, while they improved in all five resource-rich

countries in 2006.

III.2 Accounting for Changes in Debt Ratios

Several parameters, and not debt relief alone, explain the observed drop in external debt

ratios in the three country groups. In principle, if underlying data sets were consistent, it would

be easy to decompose changes in external debt ratios. As was done for African HIPC in Tables 2

and 3, for several countries, we tried to decompose the changes in NPV debt/GDP ratios into

changes of:

•

NPV debt in dollars: the sum of changes in the face value of external debt in dollars (+), of

debt reduction through HIPC and MDRI (-) and of changes in implicit grant elements (-);

•

GDP growth effects (-);

•

currency effects that result from changes in the real local exchange rate against the dollar (-).

The sign given in parenthesis denotes the relationship of the specific debt-dynamic

determinants to the net present value of debt. Unfortunately, the Global Development Finance

(GDF) and World Economic Outlook (WEO) data are not consistent enough to carry out the

decomposition above at specific country level; more detailed country analysis would be

required. As the World Bank’s 2007 Global Development Finance Yearbook (GDF 2007) data still

did not allow us to investigate developments in the year 2006, we had to rely on IMF data from

the 2007 World Economic Outlook (WEO 2007) for external debt values, exports and GDP; grant

elements are taken from GDF 2007, and are available for up to 2005.

The importance of GDP growth and inflation-adjusted local-currency appreciation

against the dollar is clearly visible, as together they account for a reduction in NPV debt/GDP

ratios of 9 percentage points. This finding confirms earlier debt-ratio studies (e.g. Campos et al.,

2006) for other developing-country regions. It also confirms Clements et al. (2005), who had

conjectured that the substantial reduction in external debt projected for the countries

participating in the HIPC Initiative would directly add 0.8-1.1 per cent to their per capita GDP

growth rates. Likewise, the fact that the debt-ratio reduces the currency (appreciation) effect is

consistent with changes in the fundamentals, especially the anticipated and actual improvements

in the net foreign assets position stemming from assistance under the enhanced HIPC Initiative

In 2005, Nigeria secured significant debt relief from the Paris Club amounting to $18.0 billion debt relief. With the

payment of the balance of $12.4 billion to its creditors, Nigeria exited the Paris Club debt in March 2006. Nigeria also

exited the London Club debt on 4 April 2007 after paying off outstanding Par Bonds and Promissory Notes.

pg_0021

OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 268

DEV/DOC(2008)4

(Buffie et al., 2006). With a debt overhang gone in African HIPC, we witness the magic of a

virtuous circle where debt reduction endogenously improves debt-ratio determinants.

Table 2: African HIPC: Decomposing changes in NPV debt/ GDP ratios, 2006 versus

2000 (%)

Africa HIPC

2000

2006

Change 06 vs 00

NPV debt/ GDP

25.0

9.0

- 16.0

+. FV debt, US $ (of which: debt relief)

(17.5)

- 7.5

+. Grant element

(25.5)

+ 0.5

=. NPV Debt, US $

18.0

- 7.0

Avg. accumulated GDP growth, 2000-06 (34.6%)

(18.5)

- 6.5

Residual, accumulated 2000-06

(22.5)

- 2.5

Source: Author’s calculations based on World Bank, GDF (2007); debt relief from OECD/DCD, Creditor Reporting

System (

www.oecd.org

Table 3: African HIPC: Decomposing changes in NPV debt/ GDP ratios, 2006 versus

2004 (%)

African HIPC

2004

2006

Change 2006 versus

2004

NPV Debt/GDP

21.0

9.0

-12.0

FV Debt, $

(11.9)

-9.1

Grant Element

(25.5)

-0.5

NPV Debt, $

11.4

-9.6

Avg. accumulated GDP growth, 2004–06

(12.0%)

(18.8)

-2.2

Residual,

Accumulated 2004–06

(21.6)

-0.2

Source: Authors’ calculations based on World Bank, GDF (2007).

Focusing on the period end-2004 to end-2006, Table 4 highlights the impact of the

enhanced HIPC and MDRI initiatives (direct observations from GDF for 2006 were not yet

available), demonstrated by the reduction of the face value of external debt (in dollars). This table

gives rise to another observation: in the past two years, the grant element has risen for the

average African HIPC, and hence debt ratios have been lowered further. This observation,

however, does not hold for countries classified here as HIPC-HELP; there, we do observe a

significant reduction of grant elements on a mix of remaining and new debt, translating into less

concessionality (Table 4). This observation may confirm the concerns about the terms at which

China provides loans to African HIPC.

A strong appreciation of the real effective exchange rate (REER) — exceeding 50 per cent

during that period — can be noted for Zambia in particular, reflecting not just higher commodity

prices but also simultaneous debt relief and renewed capital inflows. The fundamental

equilibrium exchange rate may have appreciated correspondingly: an appreciation (of the REER)

pg_0022

Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

should not be entirely equated to real effective overvaluation, as Collier (2007) has done

Currency appreciation trends in recent years were not Zambia-specific, however.

Table 4: Grant Elements, % of Debt Face Value

2000

2005

Ethiopia

79.1

69.0

Mozambique

83.0

80.1

Zambia

80.0

75.5

Avg. HIPC Africa

74.3

75.0

Source: World Bank, GDF (2007).

Table 5 does not display the REER as such, but rather the annual inflation-adjusted

currency appreciation against the dollar. The real currency appreciation accumulated over the

period 2004-06 made an important contribution to bringing debt/GDP ratios down, most

strikingly in Zambia.

Table 5: Annual Real Exchange Rate Effects

HIPC-CHINA, 2004-06

2004

2005

2006

Ethiopia

5.1

8.7

9.7

Mozambique

14.8

4.0

1.3

Zambia

19.2

27.1

42.0

Note: Real Exchange Rate Effects denote the implied annual effect of local currency appreciation against the $, as

computed as the annual rise in $ GDP corrected for annual real GDP growth.

Source: World Bank, GDF (2007); IMF, WEO (2007); authors’ calculations.

III.3 Changes in the Composition of External Debt

This section sets out to decompose the external debt stocks according to official

multilateral/bilateral/DAC versus non-DAC/private lenders

. The mix of debt outstanding and

any changes of that mix may indicate a deterioration of the concessionality of debt and hence

risks to debt sustainability. Figures 6 to 9 provide a snapshot of the composition of external debt

stocks.

Zambia’s currency was probably overvalued in 2006, and this was subsequently corrected in 2007. According to Collier

(2007), dramatic contrasting examples of the consequences of different public savings

strategies for the real exchange

rate are Chile and Zambia during 2005, a period when the world price of their common commodity export, copper, was

exceptionally high. The Government of Chile followed a savings rule that meant that all the incremental revenue was

saved, whereas the Government of Zambia continued to run a fiscal deficit.

As mentioned, GDF data were not yet available for 2006.

pg_0023

OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 268

DEV/DOC(2008)4

Figure 6: Composition of External Debt, African HIPC

Source: World Bank, GDF (2006) (

http://www.worldbank.org/

Figure 7: Composition of External Debt, HIPC-HELP

Source: World Bank, GDF (2006) (

http://www.worldbank.org/

pg_0024

Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

Figure 8: Composition of External Debt, Angola

Source: World Bank, GDF (2006) (http://www.worldbank.org/)

Figure 9: Composition of External Debt, Republic of Congo

Source: World Bank, GDF (2006) (http://www.worldbank.org/)

pg_0025

OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 268

DEV/DOC(2008)4

It may be recalled that Table 5 had signalled a significant reduction of grant elements on a

mix of remaining and new debt in HIPC-HELP between 2000 and 2005, translating into less

concessionality; by contrast, the grant element had generally risen further in African HIPC,

indicating more concessionality beyond debt relief. Figure 6 confirms the observation that the

terms and structure of debt looks much healthier for African HIPC in 2005; notably, the share of

bilateral non-concessional debt is down markedly. Data on locational asset positions were

provided to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) by commercial banks in 40 BIS-reporting

countries (mostly industrial countries and offshore centres: see

www.bis.org/statistics/bankstats.htm

) to which, e.g. China, India and Arab countries do not

belong. These data confirm that there has been no marked rise in bank credit towards any of the

African HIPC for 2006.

A debt structure with an increased share of concessional debt is also notable in HIPC-

HELP (Figure 7). Note, however, that, already in 2005, the share of private creditors has started

to rise in the GDF data (which are based on a Debtor Reporting System). This suggests that the

HIPC classified as HIPC-HELP have also incurred new debt with private banks; this rise can only

be due to lending that is not reported to BIS. This may, but ought not to, indicate an increased

presence of non-concessional lending by Chinese and other emerging-lender sources.

Figures 8 and 9 display the composition of external debt in those resource-rich countries

for which a notable change in the mix of liabilities could be observed. Clearly, debt against

commercial banks rose strongly between 2000 and 2005, from 32.5 to 52.8 per cent in Angola.

Moreover, bilateral non-concessional official lending rose from 10.8 to 14.7 in the same period.

Similarly, commercial bank lending to the Republic of Congo rose from 18.9 to 39.2 per cent over

2000 and 2005. Unlike in Angola, however, the percentage share of bilateral non-concessional

lending shrank from 26.7 to 7.7 during that same period.

In order to find out whether the rise in commercial bank lending comes from the 40 BIS-

reporting countries (essentially industrialised countries and bank offshore centres) or from

outside this group of countries, it might be useful to compare commercial bank asset data

between the 2007 GDF data based on the debtor reporting system with the BIS-reporting data. In

principle, with full reporting by the developing countries to the World Bank, one should expect

the GDF data to exceed the BIS data in all cases. The positive difference would then point to

commercial bank lending outside the BIS-reporting area.

Table 6 selects only those African sample countries for which at least one of either

statistical database reports non-negligible amounts of commercial bank debt. The table shows,

however, that the commercial bank debt of Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria reported to the World

Bank is lower than the corresponding claims reported from banks in 40 countries to BIS

; also,

Zimbabwe does not report to the World Bank. Is commercial bank debt under-reported in these

countries. As noted earlier, there is a build-in incentive for HIPC beneficiaries to under-report

However, adjusting for under-reporting of bank credit claims did not materially change debt ratios in these countries.

pg_0026

Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

their liabilities to the IDA for fear of “penalties”. The difference may also be due to incomplete

coverage of short-term lending in the World Bank’s GDF statistics.

Table 6: Comparing Foreign Commercial Bank Loan Assets between GDF and BIS

Data,

$ million

Country

31-12-2004

31-12-2005

31-12-2006

Angola

GDF

3437

4980

n.a.

BIS

1636

3328

3396

difference

1801

1652

Cameroon

GDF

n.a.

BIS

2633

2227

1894

difference

n.a.

Republic of Congo

GDF

2111

2022

n.a.

BIS

493

358

366

difference

1618

1664

Ghana

GDF

250

261

n.a.

BIS

1460

1140

1578

difference

n.a.

Nigeria

GDF

n.a.

BIS

3096

3693

4940

difference

n.a.

Sudan

GDF

1819

1583

n.a.

BIS

223

297

361

difference

1596

1286

Zimbabwe

GDF

n.a.

BIS

816

749

825

difference

n.a.

Source: author’s calculations based on World Bank, GDF (2007) and BIS Banking Statistics (www.bis.org).

The resource-rich countries Angola, Republic of Congo and Sudan, by contrast, are

characterised by commercial bank debt data that suggest at least some data consistency. Only for

those sample countries does it makes sense to compute the difference between GDF and BIS data

in order to gauge the extent and dynamic of commercial bank lending outside the BIS-reporting

banks. While the differences exceed the $ billion mark by far in all three countries, there seems to

be no dynamic trend from 2004 to 2006. In fact, in Sudan, the commercial bank debt outside the

BIS-reporting area has come down significantly since 2005.

It should be noted that some oil-rich countries have established asset positions in BIS-

reporting banks that hugely exceed their bank liabilities. It is an open question whether those

assets would be repatriated in case of threat to debt sustainability, as they may constitute capital

pg_0027

OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 268

DEV/DOC(2008)4

flight. Nigeria’s Central Bank, which does not report its official reserves to the IMF, showed that

its official foreign exchange reserves (

www.cenbank.org/IntOps/Reserve.asp

) stood at almost

$42 billion at end 2006.

pg_0028

Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

IV. FOCUS ON EXPORT CREDITS

Besides commercial bank lending, government-sponsored export credit agencies —

particularly from emerging countries that are not Participants to the OECD Arrangement on

Officially Supported Export Credits — are a source of concern for renewed lending at unfavourable

terms to HIPC beneficiaries. Before the recent debt relief programmes, 30 to 40 per cent of

developing countries’ debt was owed to export credit agencies (ECAs), but most of that debt has

been forgiven, thanks to the large-scale debt relief provided under the debt relief initiatives. The

OECD Arrangement prescribes, inter alia, minimum risk premium rates and interest rates, and

maximum terms for the support provided by OECD official export credit agencies, in order to

curb subsidy practices and to instil better discipline against trade-distortive practices. The

Arrangement also distinguishes between “export credits”, which are subject to “maximum”

terms and conditions, from “aid credits”, which are subject to “minimum” concessionality levels

and to rules regarding country and project eligibility. The Arrangement has also resulted in

increased transparency for export credit commitments from OECD countries. However, the

Participants to the OECD Arrangement are OECD member countries, and emerging lenders are not

necessarily prepared to participate in the Arrangement for the moment — although some apply

its terms and conditions in practice.

Finally, in the framework of the OECD Export Credits Group, members have agreed to

apply some common principles to avoid supporting “unproductive expenditure” in HIPC. More

recently, in the context of the latest G8 statements and the IMF/World Bank DSF, they have been

considering how to improve their policies towards “responsible lending” and how to share data

with the International Financial Institutions (IFIs).

OECD ECAs provided approximately $3.05 billion of official export credit support to

IDA-only countries from 2001 to 2006, with total commitments in 2006 ($1.65 billion) amounting

to about two-thirds of 2005 levels (out of a total of around $60 billion annually). Figure 10 shows

that the credit value of official export credit commitments to all IDA-only countries increased

significantly in 2005 after a four-year period characterised by almost no change at all in

commitment levels (when transactions involving the sale of large commercial aircraft are

excluded). Commitment levels fell off in 2006 in comparison with 2005, especially in relation to

business with HIPC; however they were still higher than the levels recorded from 2001 to 2004.

pg_0029

OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 268

DEV/DOC(2008)4

Figure 10: Official Export Credit Commitments to IDA-Only Countries,

SDR billion, 2001-06

Source: OECD (2007b), Unproductive Expenditure: Review of officially supported export credit commitments to IDA-Only

countries (2001-2006), TAD/ECG(2007)6/FINAL.

In terms of the number of commitments and the credit value for African HIPC (Table 7),

the more active buyer countries in 2005 and 2006 were:

•

Cameroon, though on a strongly declining trend, with 33 projects totalling

$312.7 million;

•

Ethiopia, which received support for five big projects in 2003 and 2005, accounting for

almost $451.32 million;

•

Ghana, with 69 projects and a total contract amount of more than $872.5 million during

2001 and 2006;

•

Mozambique, like Cameroon, on a strongly declining trend, with twelve projects worth

$400 million.

Among Africa’s non-HIPC, throughout 2001 and 2006, Kenya was an active buyer of

export credits with a total of $852.99 million. Nigeria received a comparatively modest amount of

export credit from OECD sources: $455.8 million between 2003 and 2006. A significant increase in

commitments to Angola was noted from 2005, adding up to $613.79 million in the last two years.

On the whole, commitments to IDA-only countries, and even more so to HIPC, have accounted

for a very modest share of official OECD export credit activity from 2001 to 2006. However,

activity in these countries seems to be increasing, especially in connection with the re-emergence

of several countries as significant recipients of official export credits, notably Angola (where a US

export credit for large commercial aircraft 2006 of the order of $346 million was booked in 2006).

pg_0030

Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

Table 7: Official Export Credit Commitments to HIPC by Buyer Country, 1 January 2001 — 31 December 2006

Buyer Country

Number of Transactions

Credit Amount (US $ Millions)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Total 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Total

Benin

1 1 0 0 1 1 4 12.47 0.23 0

0 3.05 0

15.75

Bolivia

9 9 5 19 2 0 44 12.50 19.44 4.39 12.11 0.75 0

49.19

Burkina Faso

0 0 3 0 1 0 4 0

0 11.31 0.00 24.18 0

35.49

Burundi

0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0

0 7.93 0

7.93

Cameroon

4 8 15 2 3 1 33 192.16 50.53 19.02 17.09 33.47 0.53

312.78

Central African Rep. 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.89 0

0.89

Chad

1 0 0 0 0 0 1 38.29 0

38.29

Comoros

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Congo

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Congo, Dem. Rep.

1 0 1 0 0 0 2 32.69 0 4.51 0

37.19

Côte d'Ivoire

11 3 1 0 0 0 15 25.00 1.52 14.64 0

41.15

Eritrea

0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 11.61 0

11.61

Ethiopia

0 0 2 0 3 2 7 0

0 253.88 0.00 193.51 0.84

448.25

Gambia

1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0.60 0 0.53 0

1.13

Ghana

17 10 8 11 11 12 69 70.14 47.78 97.58 74.17 399.22 184.06 872.94

Guinea

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Guinea-Bissau

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Guyana

1 2 1 1 0 0 5 1.44 1.78 0.68 1.41 0

5.33

Honduras

5 4 14 21 8 13 65 24.03 34.81 104.45 113.13 4.12 13.48

294.00

Kyrgystan

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Laos

0 2 0 0 3 0 5 0 145.93 0

0 207.14 0

353.07

Liberia

0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0

0 22.76 0

22.76

Madagascar

0 3 2 1 0 1 7 0 1.08 0.65 0.65 0 30.25

36.11

Malawi

0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.31 0

1.31

Mali

1 4 2 5 1 4 17 3.20 5.21 9.42 54.22 0.35 2.83

75.22

Mauritania

0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 10.02 0

10.02

Mozambique

2 3 1 3 2 1 12 153.82 168.28 18.43 26.85 19.84 13.04

400.29

Myanmar

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

pg_0031

OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 268

DEV/DOC(2008)4

Table 7 continued…

Buyer Country

Number of Transactions

Credit Amount (US $ Millions)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Total 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Total

Nicaragua

15 14 6 0 2 2 39 13.78 9.45 3.93 0 11.03 1.75

39.93

Niger

0 0 0 1 0 1 2 0

0 0.89 0 0.80

1.68

Rwanda

0 0 1 1 0 2 4 0

0 19.44 10.73 0

40.69

Sao Tome and Principe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Senegal

9 12 4 4 2 1 32 50.59 20.50 7.46 8.64 53.66 0.05

140.90

Sierra Leone

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Somalia

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Sudan

0 0 0 0 0 12 12 0

0 28.03

28.03

Tanzania

0 1 1 3 0 0 5 0 3.78 4.26 40.47 0

48.64

Togo

1 1 1 0 0 0 3 1.43 0.50 40.03 0

41.96

Uganda

3 2 3 2 0 1 11 2 2.95 21.69 1.25 0 0.75

28.66

Zambia

1 1 1 2 1 2 8 3.84 1.96 4.60 13.54 2.47 45.36

71.76

TOTAL

83 84 74 77 40 56 414 637.99 539.54 664 383 952.80 322

3512.94

Source: OECD (2007), 2001-2006 Summary Table of Official Export Credit Commitments to IDA-Only Countries by Sector

(

www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/59/36945707.pdf

pg_0032

Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

The world’s potentially largest export credit agency is China’s Exim Bank

, which aims to

expand its loans by 15-20% per year. A growth rate of 15% would increase its lending to

approximately $40 billion in 2010 — considerably more than the lending of any other export

credit agency or the World Bank. What is of interest with respect to debt sustainability in Africa,

however, is not the entire credit portfolio, but the export buyer credits that China extends to Africa.

Export credit agencies provide the bulk of credits to their own country’s companies, and not to

foreign buyer companies. According to the 2006 Annual Report released by the Export-Import

Bank of China, the bank signed globally $4.24 billion export buyer credits in 2006, and actually

disbursed $2.27 billion (see Figure 11), bringing the corresponding bank assets to $4.39 billion

The biggest African clients were Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan and Zambia

Figure 11: China Exim Bank: Export Buyer Credits –- Actual Disbursements,

$100 million

Source: Export-Import Bank of China (2007), 2006 Annual Report.

The Bank's activities are not reported regionally, but there is clear evidence of significant

and expanding operations in Africa. Some examples (with limited reliability, and with little

distinction between announced, committed and realised; from separate confidential country notes

and from Moss and Rose, 2006):

China Exim Bank is not the only Chinese policy bank which supports trade and investment in Africa. With

outstanding loans of $256 billion, the portfolio of the China Development Bank (CDB) in December 2006 was

more than eight times larger than the portfolio of China Exim Bank. Of this, only $1 billion was outstanding

in Africa, however.

Often, studies fail to distinguish total loans by the China Exim Bank from export buyer credits; only the

latter are crucially important for debt sustainability in Africa. Bosshard (2007), for example, cites much higher

figures, from an unreleased World Bank study: “The World Bank estimates that all China Exim Bank loans to

Sub-Saharan Africa in the infrastructure sector alone amounted to over $12.5 billion by mid-2006” (p. 2).

pg_0033

OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 268

DEV/DOC(2008)4

•

Angola: between 2002 and 2006, more than 10 infrastructure projects,

commitment for those projects worth more than $4.5 billion;

•

Ethiopia: in 2006, to expand and upgrade Ethiopia's telecommunications network,

Chinese commitment worth $1.5 billion;

•

Ghana: $1.2 billion, half of which for the Bui Dam;

•

Mozambique: $2.3 billion for electricity projects;

•

Nigeria: between 2004 and 2006, $8.8 billion committed by China for natural-

resource (oil-) related infrastructure;

•

Sudan: country with the highest level of oil-related financing by China in Africa, for

12 projects. Between 2001 and 2005, infrastructure investment amounted to nearly

$1.9 billion.

There are fears that the Chinese do not lend according to the financial terms and

conditions set by the OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits. More precisely,

Chinese export credits could belong to the “forbidden loans” category under the Arrangement.

“Forbidden loans” are loans that are neither “export credits” as defined by the Arrangement, nor

sufficiently concessional: they are between these two different categories. Also, such loans may,

in principle, endanger debt sustainability in countries with low debt tolerance.

The 2007 GDF data provide another approximate source for non-concessional bilateral

lending (mostly, presumably, from export-import banks). By comparison with the OECD data

provided in Table 7, we can disentangle new lending to African HIPC and IDA-only. Table 8

indeed points to considerable non-concessional bilateral lending from outside of the OECD area,

but rather more in 2001 than in 2005. It is important to note that OECD and Chinese export

credits can be highly concessional.

Table 8: Bilateral Non-Concessional Lending (GDF) and OECD Export Credits,

$ million

2001

2005

GDF

OECD

GDF

OECD

Angola

837

1385

101

Cameroon

2267

162

933

Rep. of Congo

967

397

Ethiopia

208

239

185

Mozambique

1082

130

214

Nigeria

22571

6000

118

Sudan

3560

3363

Zambia

682

120

Source: World Bank, GDF (2007); OECD (2007), UNPRODUCTIVE EXPENDITURE: review of officially supported

export credit commitments to IDA-Only countries (2001-2006), TAD/ECG(2007)6/FINAL.

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DEV/DOC(2008)4

V. S P OT L I G H T O N C H I N A’ S R O L E

Besides the 22 DAC donors, other countries have re-emerged as new donors and lenders

in the present decade. It is difficult to quantify the volume, allocation and composition of aid

provided by most new donor countries, because their activities are not reported in a

comprehensive manner. Former DAC Chairman Richard Manning (2006) raised the question:

“Will DAC members continue to be vastly the predominant source of aid finance, or will others

now start assuming a much larger share than hitherto. Let us look at four main groups.” (p. 373).

Among the so-called new donors, he distinguished:

•

OECD members which are not members of the DAC — countries such as Turkey, Korea,

Mexico and several European countries;

•

new EU member states which are not members of the OECD;

•

Middle East and OPEC countries and funds;

•

non-OECD donors which provide aid but fall outside the second and third groups

identified above, including the “heavyweights”, China and India.

The six largest non-Paris Club bilateral creditors to LICs are Brazil, China, India, Korea,

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, according to the IMF/World Bank (2006b). In Africa, it is really mostly

China that may matter for debt sustainability. At the current pace, China’s income is doubling

every seven years. As a result of intensified trade links with China, Africa has enjoyed higher

growth rates, better terms of trade, increased export volumes and higher public revenues

(Goldstein et al., 2006). To sustain this growth, China needs, first and foremost, natural

resources — oil, industrial metals — and also, increasingly, agricultural resources. Resource-rich

Africa can deliver

. By investing massively in Africa’s infrastructure, China clearly contributes to

a dampening of the price effects on oil and other raw materials that would arise if China bought

on raw material spot markets alone; from that perspective, China does a great favour to the

world economy at large.

There are three forms of aid provided by China: i) grant aid (Ministry of Commerce, or

MOFCOM): mainly aid in kind; ii) zero-interest loans (MOFCOM): Chinese authorities consider

that more than 90% of these loans are written off over time; iii) concessional loans (China Exim

Martyn Davies, Director of the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University, provided four

rationales to the Governing Board of the OECD Development Centre on 22/10/2007 for why China intensified

engagement in Africa for raw-material security: 1) the Iraq war started in 2003 and its impact on oil prices

and oil availability; 2) the aborted attempt in 2005 by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC)

to bid for US oil and gas company UNOCAL; 3) Russia’s East Siberia-Pacific oil pipeline that pumps its

Siberian crude toward Japan rather than China; 4) the avoidance of “inefficient intermediaries” such as the

London Metal Exchange.

pg_0035

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DEV/DOC(2008)4

Bank): these loans are given an interest subsidy by MOFCOM: this subsidy is the difference

between China’s central bank base rate and the preferential loan rate. Chinese aid can be

considered as an investment made by the Chinese government to promote the prosperity of the

Chinese economy. As a consequence, the Chinese look to finance projects with limited,

circumscribed risk and high potential profitability, or else they seek African countries that can

provide them with solid collateral guarantees.

The data provided in Figure 12 cover aid in the forms of grants, interest-free loans,

preferential loans, co-operative and joint venture funds for aid projects, science and technology

co-operation, and medical assistance, on a bilateral basis. Note that, unlike DAC donors’

reported Official Development Assistance (ODA), Chinese aid figures do not include debt relief.

Preferential loans enter China’s aid statistics only as an implicit interest subsidy — the difference

of the central bank benchmark lending rate and the concessional rate. China’s accounted aid is

relatively small, RMB 11 billion (less than $1.5 billion) in 2007, but it is rising strongly.

Figure 12:

China’s foreign aid expenditure increases, 1998-2007

Source: Qi, G. ( 2007).

At the African Development Bank (AfDB) summit in Beijing attended in May 2007 by

nearly 50 African heads of state and ministers, China pledged to double its aid to Africa and

provide $5 billion in loans and credits over the next three years. Further, the Chinese have put in

place a China-Africa Development Fund that will eventually reach $5 billion. This fund

encourages China’s own firms to invest in Africa, in a host of activities ranging from

manufacturing to telecommunications to agriculture, alone or in joint ventures. According to the

Ministry of Commerce/World Trade Organization (WTO) Study Centre, Beijing, in 2007 China

had circa 800 (state) companies operating in Africa on 900 projects in 52 countries.

A lack of transparency on the part of China’s authorities has encouraged “China

bashing”. A leading expert on Chinese aid policies recently published the pointedly titled

pg_0036

Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

“China’s Foreign Aid in Africa: What Do We Know.” (Brautigam, 2007). And she cites some

“fantasy numbers”:

“Journalists threw figures around loosely, and rumors of a huge new aid program ran

through the major papers and magazines. Some described figures as high as US$9 billion in ‘aid’

for just one project in Nigeria, or claimed that China had ‘given’ US$1.8 billion to Africa in 2002,

or US$2.7 billion in aid to Africa in 2004. One oft-quoted report announced that with

US$8.1 billion in foreign aid offered to Africa for 2007, the Chinese were nearly tripling the

assistance offered by the World Bank”. (p. 2).

There is also confusion between the terms technical co-operation, investment and aid

The China Statistical Yearbook reports the value of revenues earned by these economic co-

operation projects (“value of business fulfilled”) on a country level, without specifying how they

are financed. In Mauritius, for example, the figure for labour co-operation is the highest in Africa;

this is because Chinese companies contract to provide Chinese labour for Mauritian (and

Chinese) manufacturing firms in Mauritius. These are totally paid by the private-sector

companies that hired Chinese work teams. A further difficulty arises from sloppy distinctions in

press reports on China-Africa technical co-operation, between “proposed”, “agreed”, “under

construction”, “concluded”, “realised”, “(un)confirmed”.

As business is often operated in barter mode, financial transparency is difficult to

establish. Take the Angola Mode, where funds are not directly lent to the recipient country;

instead, the Chinese government will mandate a Chinese construction company (that usually

receives a support credit from the China Exim Bank) to undertake the construction works,

following the approval of the recipient country. Then, in exchange for the infrastructure

provision, the borrowing government will give the right to mine natural resources to a Chinese

company operating in the field of natural resources (mostly oil or minerals), through the

acquisition of equity stakes in a national oil company or through acquiring licences for

production. The Angola Mode illustrates well the way in which the Chinese have chosen to

implement their foreign economic co-operation policy, i.e. by using the Chinese companies as the

spearheads of this policy

Other financial flows from China to Africa seem to take mainly the form of commercial

loans —neither the sizes nor the terms of these loans are currently being revealed — and

investment, mostly in natural resources, through joint ventures or acquisition of licences for

We owe the following clarifications to e-mail exchanges with Deborah Brautigam (American University,

Washington, DC) and Jean-Raphaël Chaponnière (AFD, Paris).

This procedure may explain the tied nature of Chinese aid in a period when DAC donors have been

untying aid. However, it should not be overlooked that the competitiveness of Chinese construction

companies may not imply any need for tying aid. One motive for investing people and capital abroad is

that China has both surplus labour (the result of unproductive rural labour in remote areas) and surplus

capital (the result of a huge surplus of savings over investment). Consequently, the labour and capital

shadow costs of engaging in Africa are relatively low.

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OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 268

DEV/DOC(2008)4

production. FDI flows may at times be the counterpart of the provision of loans, a phenomenon

observed in Angola, Nigeria and Sudan. The main arm of the Chinese government for bilateral

aid to Africa is the China Exim Bank, which is involved in the financing of almost all the most

important projects (Brautigam, 2007).

China engages mostly in infrastructure for resources extraction, telecommunications and

transport. In sectoral percentage terms of confirmed financing commitments, 28% are currently

in the energy sector, 19% in telecommunications, and 13% in transport (mainly rail and road

projects), according to unpublished World Bank data. The same unpublished source ranks

African countries for the geographical distribution of “Chinese finance” as: 40 per cent to

Angola; a further 40 per cent to a group of three countries: Nigeria, Ethiopia and Sudan; and then

Ghana and the Republic of Congo, with 3 per cent each.

The IMF recently published an estimate of China's financial assistance to Africa (Jacoby,

2007): as of 2006, existing loans and credit lines are estimated to total about $19 billion.

. The

beneficiaries of the largest flows are Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of Congo,

and Nigeria — with Angola and Equatorial Guinea alone having credit lines totalling about

$14 billion. The proportion of grants is small, but China recently cancelled an estimated

$260 million in debt for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, Senegal, Togo,

Rwanda, Guinea and Uganda.

The concessionality of loans varies widely (Jacoby, 2007). Some large loans and credit

lines have not been fully concessional, although they are on more favourable terms than the

market. The degree of concessionality of a project also depends on other aspects, such as the

requirement that only Chinese companies using Chinese products bid for the projects (70 per

cent of Chinese credit lines in Angola have been used in this way). Also, repayment of loans has

sometimes been tied (as in Angola) to the supply of oil.

What the West is to the HIPC, China is to the Resource-rich countries, but the channels

through which lower debt ratios are achieved are very different. There, China impacts on debt

ratios through stimulating exports and growth. To be sure, debt vulnerability is still a concern for

African raw material exporters, in view of their low governance scores and their exposure to real

external shocks, such as a major drop in oil prices. However, even Angola and Sudan, the two

African countries where the presence of China is most strongly felt (and which have not

benefited from debt relief), show big improvements in their debt indicators (Table 9). Note also

that both countries have recently been building official foreign-exchange reserves at a rapid pace,

so that their net debt exposure is even lower. Even ignoring foreign-held assets, Angola is now

below debt-distress levels in the absence of any debt relief (although it remains on yellow-light

Further requests with the author clarified that this IMF staff estimate is based on a survey among country-desk officers.

As the article states, the data are rather sketchy, since not all loans may be clearly identifiable as such, or may not have

been reported as loans by country authorities. In addition, data reflect IMF regional definitions: IMF data are based on the

countries covered by the IMF's African Department (sub-Saharan Africa, excluding Sudan, Mauritania and Somalia),

which are different from those covered by the World Bank's African Department. This explains the absence of Sudan in

the IMF list of main beneficiaries of Chinese loans. The absence of Zimbabwe in the IMF list might reflect incomplete

reporting.

pg_0038

Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

classification in the DSF). Sudan is still above debt-distress levels, but here too, debt ratios have

come down markedly.

Table 9: Debt-Distress Indicators in Angola and Sudan, 2000 versus 2006

Angola

Sudan

2000

2006

2000

2006

Total debt / Exports (%)

111

1056

466

NPV of debt / Exports (%)

463

273

Total debt / GDP (%)

100

162

NPV of debt / GDP(%)

Debt service / Exports

36.5

9.4

4.5

Annual external debt

growth (in %)

5.47

5.06

Implicit grant element (in %)

Source: IMF, WEO (2007); authors’ calculations.

Table 10: China’s “Contribution” to Export and Income Growth, 2000-05

Annual growth rate

of Exports (in %)

Annual growth rate

of GNP ( in %)

China share in

exports (in %)

China's contribution to:

Exports growth GNP growth

Angola

19.8

9.9

24.4

Sudan

15.8

7.5

17.1

Note: The China “effect” on exports results from isolating exports to China from total exports growth during 2000-05;

the income effect results from multiplying the China “effect” on exports times the country’s exports share. Export and

GNP growth rates are compound annual rates. Data for exports 2000-05 are from COMTRADE.

Source: World Bank, GDF (2007) and COMTRADE; authors’ calculations.

The next issue that should be addressed is how China is impacting on the parameters of

debt sustainability indicators; to our knowledge, this has not yet been done, so some back-of-the-

envelope calculation may be useful. What matters equally for debt sustainability and debt

dynamics is the push that China gives to exports and income growth. To provide an example,

Table 11 again focuses on Angola and Sudan. Both countries have seen rapid export and income

growth in the present decade. While Angola has an export share of GDP of 84%, Sudan is more

“closed”, with a corresponding share of 23%. But as China is almost the only client for Sudan’s

exports, China’s demand for oil has contributed to income growth fairly similarly, at around a

fifth.

Africa’s trade reorientation toward China may also imply an important drawback: it may

derail the endeavours by African commodity producers to diversify away from traditional

exports. Diversification trends — the inverse of the Herfindahl index — are depicted for African

HIPC, HIPC-HELP and Resource-rich IDA-only countries in Table 11. Note that China’s presence

in Africa may lower export diversification in three ways: a) through raising raw material prices;

b) through stimulating the quantity demanded of traditional exports; and c) through crowding

out non-traditional exports. (For a detailed analysis of Dutch Disease and the Leamer Triangle,

see Goldstein et al,, 2006.) These effects have clearly played out in African HIPC, and even more

so, in HIPC-HELP: on (unweighted) average, the index is at the bottom, signalling a trend to

heavy mono-good dependence. The Resource-rich IDA-only countries have seen a slight export

pg_0039

OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 268

DEV/DOC(2008)4

diversification in the Republic of Congo and in Zimbabwe, but not in Angola, Chad, Equatorial

Guinea or Sudan.

Table 11: Export Goods Diversification in Africa

2001

2005

African HIPC

6.4

4.9

HIPC-HELP

4.1

2.8

Resource-rich IDA-only

3.0

3.8

Source: OECD (2007a), African Economic Outlook 2006/2007.

While China has a positive impact on debt sustainability through stimulating exports and

GNP (and a negative impact through reducing product diversification), many argue that it

lowers standards, undermines democratic institutions and increases corruption, particularly in

oil-rich countries that suffer traditionally from this type of resource curse (Collier, 2007). If true,

this would clearly undermine debt tolerance, as shown by Kraay and Nehru (2006).

The scores provided by Transparency International for perceived corruption reveal, for

countries in which China is relatively strongly engaged (Table 12, shaded countries) that: these

countries are perceived as being relatively corrupt; also, according to the CPIA index, except for

Mozambique and Zambia, they have low governance standards; China’s presence seems to have

fostered perceived corruption in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, but on the other hand, Angola and

Nigeria show improvements. The Bertelsmann Transformation Index confirms even more

thoroughly that countries in which China is engaged have higher scores in all countries except

Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Worldwide Governance Indicators (for “Voice and Accountability”)

released in July 2007 reveal a picture partly at odds with the Bertelsmann Transformation Index and

the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Angola, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe

show deteriorated scores, while Ethiopia, Mozambique and Nigeria do better. In any case, China

will have to reconsider also governance issues in partner countries, and it has started to do so: in

February 2007, the Chinese government deleted Nigeria and Sudan from its list of resource-rich

countries in which it is encouraging companies to invest.

One issue for concern has not been discussed widely, if at all: the currency denomination

of China’s lending. As a rapidly growing economy, China is bound to experience trend

appreciation of her currency in inflation-adjusted terms, due to the Balassa-Samuelson effect

Nominal appreciation is sure to be enforced through pressure by the US treasury, just as

happened two decades earlier in the case of Japan and the Asian Newly Industrialised Countries

(NICs). There is no way to hedge against long-term real appreciation of the renminbi; there are no

future markets for the renminbi, and should they exist, the hedge cost for 10-15 year maturities

will be exorbitant. However, it should be kept in mind that China-Africa financial co-operation is

often on a barter basis, as described above; this may dampen any effects on debt sustainability

arising from renminbi appreciation. Moreover, countries such as Angola and Sudan have been

growing in tandem with, and at a rate close to, China: this should contain any Balassa-Samuelson

effect.

The rapid rise in the relative prices of non-tradables as a result of income growth.

pg_0040

Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

Table 12: Governance Scores in Africa

COUNTRY

SCORE 2002/03

SCORE 2006

CHANGE

T.I. (CPI) BTI

WGI (voice and

account.) T.I. (CPI) BTI

WGI (voice and

account.) T.I. (CPI) BTI WGI (voice and account.)

ANGOLA

1.7 2.8

13.9

2.2 3.57

11.5

0.5 0.77

-2.4

BENIN

5.7

50.5

2.5 5.68

57.2

-0.22

6.7

BURKINA FASO

3.6

3.2 4.42

38.9

0.82

1.9

CAMEROON

2.2 2.9

18.8

2.3 3.26

20.7

0.1 0.36

1.9

ETHIOPIA

3.5 2.5

2.4 4.12

16.8

-1.1 1.62

3.8

GHANA

3.9 6

48.1

3.3 6.76

60.1

-0.6 0.76

1.2

MADAGASCAR

1.7 4.2

42.3

3.1 6.31

1.4 2.11

6.7

MALAWI

2.9 2.7

31.3

2.7 4.73

39.4

-0.2 2.03

8.1

MALI

7.5

55.8

2.8 6.44

57.7

-1.06

1.9

MAURITANIA

29.3

3.1

23.1

-6.2

MOZAMBIQUE

45.7

2.8 6.05

47.6

1.05

1.9

NIGER

4.4

39.4

2.3 6.13

42.3

1.73

2.9

NIGERIA

1.6 4.4

2.2 5.33

0.6 0.93

RWANDA

3.2

8.7

2.5 4.44

14.4

1.24

5.7

SENEGAL

3.1 5.5

53.8

3.3 6.77

49.5

0.2 1.27

-4.3

SUDAN

4.8

2 3.43

3.8

1.43

-1

SIERRA LEONE

2.8

2.2 5.73

33.2

2.93

9.2

TANZANIA

2.7 5.6

40.9

2.9 5.92

40.4

0.2 0.32

-0.5

UGANDA

2.1 5

20.2

2.7 5.55

30.3

0.6 0.55

10.1

ZAMBIA

2.6 4.5

37.5

2.6 5.52

1.02

-0.5

ZIMBABWE

2.7 1

8.2

2.4

6.7

-0.3

-1.5

AVG. HIPC

2.7 4.4

2.7 102.16

38.7

5.48

3.7

note: Indices: Corruption perception index (CPI) from Transparency International (TI) - lowest score:0 / highest score: 10

Management Index from Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI) - lowest score: 0 Voice and Accountability from the World Governance Indicators - Percentile Rank

(0-100).

Source: Transparency International (

www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi

); Bertelsmann Transformation Index (

www.betelsmann-

transformation-index.de/46.0.html.&L=1

); World Bank, Worldwide Governance Indicators (http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi2007sc_country.asp).

pg_0041

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VI. GAUGING THE DEGREE OF “IMPRUDENT LENDING”

In its 2006 evaluation update of the HIPC Initiative, the Independent Evaluation Group of

the World Bank (2006b) was concerned that, for “11 of 13 post-completion point countries for

which data are available, the key indicator of external debt sustainability has deteriorated since

completion point. In eight of these countries, the ratios once again exceed HIPC thresholds.

Changes in discount and exchange rates have worked to increase debt ratios. The effect of

improved exports and revenue mobilisation on debt ratios has been offset by new borrowing.”

(p. xi).

This assessment is in striking contrast with assessments by the sovereign rating

industry

, which

perceives African debt as more sustainable than in the past

. To quote a recent

report released by Fitch Ratings (2007, p. 1):

”With most of the external debt written off and greater entrenchment of macroeconomic

stability, attention is turning to developing local debt markets as a cost-effective, sustainable

source of long-term financing for governments. In addition, there is increased interest by foreign

investors in the region’s local debt capital markets and a trend towards international bond

issuance for the first time by some sovereigns and private-sector companies. These developments

are ratings positive from the point of view of transparency and market discipline.”

The World Bank assessment is also at odds with the findings of this study, though with

all due caution, as the underlying data are not good enough to arrive at policy conclusions with a

high degree of confidence. Data on the new debt contracted by the countries that have benefited

from HIPC and MDRI are very poor. With this qualification in mind, we can arrive at and defend

the following conclusions:

•

Generally, we find very little evidence of “imprudent lending” to debt-relief beneficiaries in

the data up to 2006. Their debt (service) ratios have been declining below the debt-

A counterpart to this improved investor assessment may be the ratio of non-performing loans (NPL) held by China’s

Exim Bank. The 2006 Annual Report states that the “year-end on-sheet NPL ratio” fell for the eighth consecutive year,

to 3.47% at end 2006.

According to the Fitch report, debt relief rounds have “greatly enhanced debt sustainability, thereby mitigating the

downside risk to the ratings.” The ratings of three MDRI countries have been upgraded: Ghana’s rating progressed

from “B/Positive” outlook at the end of 2003 to “B+/Positive” in 2006/2007; in 2007, it was the first sub-Saharan country

(except for South Africa) to tap the global bond market; Cameroon’s Long-term Local Currency debt was upgraded

from “CCC” to “B-” in 2007, and Malawi’s ratings were upgraded to “B-” in 2007. Fitch also upgraded the Country

Ceiling for the Common Monetary Area (CMA) to “A” in August 2006.

pg_0042

Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

distress levels set by the DSF, and there is even some evidence that the HIPC-only

countries might now be under-leveraged. Two qualifications are in order: firstly, those

countries grouped here as HIPC-HELP (Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Zambia) did

experience a deterioration of grant elements recently; and secondly, new lending by some

countries is under-reported, as a result of disincentives built into the DSF.

•

“Free riding” by emerging lenders on the debt relief granted through bilateral and

multilateral initiatives is hardly visible. The major beneficiaries of new lending, mostly

through official export credits (from both China’s and OECD agencies) are the resource-

rich countries (Angola, Nigeria, Sudan) that did not (directly) benefit from HIPC and

MDRI. Moreover, China too has granted debt relief (mostly to HIPC beneficiaries), and its

subsidised export buyer credits would be considered as concessional by current DAC

reporting standards.

•

Nonetheless, the lack of reporting transparency on external lending and debt remains an

important issue; a Debt Transparency Initiative would help poor countries to avoid

sliding back into debt problems, and would stimulate mutual trust between old and new

donors and lenders active in sub-Saharan Africa. To be realistic, the nature of China’s co-

operation with Africa does not lend itself easily to transparency, since it results from

decentralised investment decisions and is often carried out in barter mode. Clearly,

China’s bad press results also from the opaqueness of its lending operations.

•

In order to encourage China and other emerging lenders and donors to co-operate with

the “international community”, a broadening of the DSF concept of debt sustainability is

not only required, but also sensible. The growth effects of new lending (that is

contributing to better infrastructure), as well as terms of trade and export performance,

have to be weighed against higher debt, worsened grant elements and less export

diversification. Crucially, a view has to be integrated as to what extent China’s broad

economic impact is purely temporary, or whether it is of longer duration (the so-called

raw material super-cycle).

•

Debt management remains important, not least because the currency composition of new

lending by China and other countries may imply future debt-servicing pressures. Low-

income countries have, however, the option of minimising the currency mix of their

exchange risk exposure by matching the currency mix of their debt with the currency mix

of their cash flows. An optimal debt portfolio can be defined as a portfolio which has

maximum correlation with the changes in the terms of trade; this can be operationalised

by a debt-currency mix which matches the currency mix of net exports. For oil exporters,

this calls for US dollar debt exposure.

•

Concerns about debt sustainability in shock-prone low-income countries can be smoothed

out by counter-cyclical facilities, such as recently advocated and introduced by the Agence

Française de Développement. One idea is, to transform the grace period of a typical

concessional loan into a fixed initial grace period and a floating grace period, which the

country can draw upon when a bad shock occurs (Cohen et al., 2007).

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DEV/DOC(2008)4

Ultimately, bringing about more transparency on, and less debt vulnerability from,

foreign capital movements must be achieved by African governments and regional organisations

such as the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

Arguments that originate outside of Africa — whether coming from the G8, the Bretton Woods

institutions or the OECD donors grouped in the DAC — will not alone tilt the balance toward

more transparency and higher debt tolerance.

pg_0044

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ANNEX: THE ROLE OF ENDOGENOUS DEBT DYNAMICS

Considering endogenous debt factors and the emphasis of the policy community on debt-GDP

ratios, we can write a debt dynamics equation for the net present value of external debt which lays

emphasis on economic growth and currency effects. The fact that the equation is formulated for

the net present value of debt means that it incorporates interest rates, grace periods, repayment

duration and other concessionality elements.

Let us first consider a post-HIPC economy in a steady state, with the NPV of liabilities that

respect prudent debt thresholds and that foreign lenders are willing to hold in equilibrium

expressed as a fraction of the country’s GDP, denoted by d. For our purposes, d is defined as the

debt threshold above which debt sustainability is at risk. In equilibrium, i.e. with d held constant,

the country can accumulate net liabilities NL equal to the current account deficit, plus the net

accumulation of international reserves FX, minus foreign equity investment FDI, all as fractions

of GDP, in proportion to its long-run GDP growth,

(A1)

NL =

d +

FX – FDI.

The right-hand side of the equation stands for the endogenous debt dynamics and the grant element

(recall that d is NPV/GDP), and the left-hand side for the amount of “warranted borrowing”.

Obviously, the term for annual GDP growth,

, can easily be replaced by terms denoting annual

export growth or revenue growth (Reisen, 1998).

Long-run GDP growth also exerts two indirect effects on the steady-state current account that is

consistent with a stable NPV-to-GDP ratio, d. The first effect is that, as the economy expands, the

desired level of international reserves also grows. The literature on the demand for international

reserves has empirically identified two important determinants. The first is the level of imports,

still the most important determinant for African LICs. The second, becoming increasingly

important for countries with financial market access, is the variability in the balance of payments

which, by creating uncertainty, increases the demand for reserves. In the following, uncertainty

in the balance of payments is ignored. In principle it can be incorporated into the analysis, by

making predictions about the coefficient of variation from the time trend in the foreign reserve

ratio. Denoting real annual import growth by

, the change in the desired reserve ratio can be

written as

(A2)

FX = [(1 +

)/ (1 +

)] FX – FX.

Incorporating (A2) into (A1) yields

(A3)

NL =

d FDI + [(

–

)/ (1 +

)]FX.

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OECD Development Centre Working Paper No. 268

DEV/DOC(2008)4

Secondly, consideration must be given to foreign-currency effects in the African context, as

Campos et al. (2006) so clearly demonstrate. One

channel through which GDP growth indirectly

impacts on debt dynamics

is the Balassa-Samuelson effect. In the long run, relative growth leads

to real exchange rate appreciation, largely driven by the evolution of productivity

differentials

between traded and non-traded goods in the domestic economy and

in the rest of the world. In

turn, if African debt were to be denominated in renminbi and China continued to grow faster

than African LICs, this would amount to a relative depreciation of African currencies. Further,

export receipts are often denominated in dollars for raw material exporters, and much of

Western Africa remains pegged to the Euro. Real exchange rate changes scaled to GDP growth,

have thus to be incorporated in any debt-dynamics equation; this yields

(A4)

NL = (

)d – FDI + (

)/(1 +

)]FX.

Equation (A4) emphasises the important role that GDP growth and exchange rate developments

play in defining the amount of prudent lending with a given debt-GDP threshold; it is important

to explore, therefore, to what extent lending stimulates GDP and export growth, and relative

currency appreciation.

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Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

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OTHER TITLES IN THE SERIES/

AUTRES TITRES DANS LA SÉRIE

The former series known as “Technical Papers” and “ Webdocs” merged in November 2003

into “Development Centre Working Papers”. In the new series, former Webdocs 1-17 follow

former Technical Papers 1-212 as Working Papers 213-229.

All these documents may be downloaded from:

http://www.oecd.org/dev/wp or obtained via e-mail (dev.contact@oecd.org).

Working Paper No.1, Macroeconomic Adjustment and Income Distribution: A Macro-Micro Simulation Model, by François Bourguignon,

William H. Branson and Jaime de Melo, March 1989.

Working Paper No. 2, International Interactions in Food and Agricultural Policies: The Effect of Alternative Policies, by Joachim Zietz and

Alberto Valdés, April, 1989.

Working Paper No. 3, The Impact of Budget Retrenchment on Income Distribution in Indonesia: A Social Accounting Matrix Application, by

Steven Keuning and Erik Thorbecke, June 1989.

Working Paper No. 3a, Statistical Annex: The Impact of Budget Retrenchment, June 1989.

Document de travail No. 4, Le Rééquilibrage entre le secteur public et le secteur privé : le cas du Mexique, par C.-A. Michalet, juin 1989.

Working Paper No. 5, Rebalancing the Public and Private Sectors: The Case of Malaysia, by R. Leeds, July 1989.

Working Paper No. 6, Efficiency, Welfare Effects, and Political Feasibility of Alternative Antipoverty and Adjustment Programs, by Alain de

Janvry and Elisabeth Sadoulet, December 1989.

Document de travail No. 7, Ajustement et distribution des revenus : application d’un modèle macro-micro au Maroc, par Christian Morrisson,

avec la collaboration de Sylvie Lambert et Akiko Suwa, décembre 1989.

Working Paper No. 8, Emerging Maize Biotechnologies and their Potential Impact, by W. Burt Sundquist, December 1989.

Document de travail No. 9, Analyse des variables socio-culturelles et de l’ajustement en Côte d’Ivoire, par W. Weekes-Vagliani, janvier 1990.

Working Paper No. 10, A Financial Computable General Equilibrium Model for the Analysis of Ecuador’s Stabilization Programs, by André

Fargeix and Elisabeth Sadoulet, February 1990.

Working Paper No. 11, Macroeconomic Aspects, Foreign Flows and Domestic Savings Performance in Developing Countries: A ”State of The

Art” Report, by Anand Chandavarkar, February 1990.

Working Paper No. 12, Tax Revenue Implications of the Real Exchange Rate: Econometric Evidence from Korea and Mexico, by Viriginia

Fierro and Helmut Reisen, February 1990.

Working Paper No. 13, Agricultural Growth and Economic Development: The Case of Pakistan, by Naved Hamid and Wouter Tims,

April 1990.

Working Paper No. 14, Rebalancing the Public and Private Sectors in Developing Countries: The Case of Ghana, by H. Akuoko-Frimpong,

June 1990.

Working Paper No. 15, Agriculture and the Economic Cycle: An Economic and Econometric Analysis with Special Reference to Brazil, by

Florence Contré and Ian Goldin, June 1990.

Working Paper No. 16, Comparative Advantage: Theory and Application to Developing Country Agriculture, by Ian Goldin, June 1990.

Working Paper No. 17, Biotechnology and Developing Country Agriculture: Maize in Brazil, by Bernardo Sorj and John Wilkinson,

June 1990.

Working Paper No. 18, Economic Policies and Sectoral Growth: Argentina 1913-1984, by Yair Mundlak, Domingo Cavallo, Roberto

Domenech, June 1990.

Working Paper No. 19, Biotechnology and Developing Country Agriculture: Maize In Mexico, by Jaime A. Matus Gardea, Arturo Puente

Gonzalez and Cristina Lopez Peralta, June 1990.

Working Paper No. 20, Biotechnology and Developing Country Agriculture: Maize in Thailand, by Suthad Setboonsarng, July 1990.

Working Paper No. 21, International Comparisons of Efficiency in Agricultural Production, by Guillermo Flichmann, July 1990.

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Prudent Versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From debt relief to emerging lenders

DEV/DOC(2008)4

Working Paper No. 22, Unemployment in Developing Countries: New Light on an Old Problem, by David Turnham and Denizhan Eröcal,

July 1990.

Working Paper No. 23, Optimal Currency Composition of Foreign Debt: the Case of Five Developing Countries, by Pier Giorgio Gawronski,

August 1990.

Working Paper No. 24, From Globalization to Regionalization: the Mexican Case, by Wilson Peres Núñez, August 1990.

Working Paper No. 25, Electronics and Development in Venezuela: A User-Oriented Strategy and its Policy Implications, by Carlota Perez,

October 1990.

Working Paper No. 26, The Legal Protection of Software: Implications for Latecomer Strategies in Newly Industrialising Economies (NIEs) and

Middle-Income Economies (MIEs), by Carlos Maria Correa, October 1990.

Working Paper No. 27, Specialization, Technical Change and Competitiveness in the Brazilian Electronics Industry, by Claudio R. Frischtak,

October 1990.

Working Paper No. 28, Internationalization Strategies of Japanese Electronics Companies: Implications for Asian Newly Industrializing

Economies (NIEs), by Bundo Yamada, October 1990.

Working Paper No. 29, The Status and an Evaluation of the Electronics Industry in Taiwan, by Gee San, October 1990.

Working Paper No. 30, The Indian Electronics Industry: Current Status, Perspectives and Policy Options, by Ghayur Alam, October 1990.

Working Paper No. 31, Comparative Advantage in Agriculture in Ghana, by James Pickett and E. Shaeeldin, October 1990.

Working Paper No. 32, Debt Overhang, Liquidity Constraints and Adjustment Incentives, by Bert Hofman and Helmut Reisen,

October 1990.

Working Paper No. 34, Biotechnology and Developing Country Agriculture: Maize in Indonesia, by Hidjat Nataatmadja et al., January 1991.

Working Paper No. 35, Changing Comparative Advantage in Thai Agriculture, by Ammar Siamwalla, Suthad Setboonsarng and Prasong

Werakarnjanapongs, March 1991.

Working Paper No. 36, Capi tal Flows and the External Financing of Turkey’s Imports, by Ziya Önis and Süleyman Özmucur, July 1991.

Working Paper No. 37, The External Financing of Indonesia’s Imports, by Glenn P. Jenkins and Henry B.F. Lim, July 1991.

Working Paper No. 38, Long-term Capital Reflow under Macroeconomic Stabilization in Latin America, by Beatriz Armendariz de Aghion,

July 1991.

Working Paper No. 39, Buybacks of LDC Debt and the Scope for Forgiveness, by Beatriz Armendariz de Aghion, July 1991.

Working Paper No. 40, Measuring and Modelling Non-Tariff Distortions with Special Reference to Trade in Agricultural Commodities, by

Peter J. Lloyd, July 1991.

Working Paper No. 41, The Changing Nature of IMF Conditionality, by Jacques J. Polak, August 1991.

Working Paper No. 42, Time-Varying Estimates on the Openness of the Capital Account in Korea and Taiwan, by Helmut Reisen and Hélène

Yèches, August 1991.

Working Paper No. 43, Toward a Concept of Development Agreements, by F. Gerard Adams, August 1991.

Document de travail No. 44, Le Partage du fardeau entre les créanciers de pays débiteurs défaillants, par Jean-Claude Berthélemy et Ann

Vourc’h, septembre 1991.

Working Paper No. 45, The External Financing of Thailand’s Imports, by Supote Chunanunthathum, October 1991.

Working Paper No. 46, The External Financing of Brazilian Imports, by Enrico Colombatto, with Elisa Luciano, Luca Gargiulo, Pietro

Garibaldi and Giuseppe Russo, October 1991.

Working Paper No. 47, Scenarios for the World Trading System and their Implications for Developing Countries, by Robert Z. Lawrence,

November 1991.

Working Paper No. 48, Trade Policies in a Global Context: Technical Specifications of the Rural/Urban-North/South (RUNS) Applied General

Equilibrium Model, by Jean-Marc Burniaux and Dominique van der Mensbrugghe, November 1991.

Working Paper No. 49, Macro-Micro Linkages: Structural Adjustment and Fertilizer Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa, by Jean-Marc Fontaine

with the collaboration of Alice Sindzingre, December 1991.

Working Paper No. 50, Aggregation by Industry in General Equilibrium Models with International Trade, by Peter J. Lloyd, December 1991.

Working Paper No. 51, Policy and Entrepreneurial Responses to the Montreal Protocol: Some Evidence from the Dynamic Asian Economies, by

David C. O’Connor, December 1991.

Working Paper No. 52, On the Pricing of LDC Debt: an Analysis Based on Historical Evidence from Latin America, by Beatriz Armendariz

de Aghion, February 1992.

Working Paper No. 53, Economic Regionalisation and Intra-Industry Trade: Pacific-Asian Perspectives, by Kiichiro Fukasaku,

February 1992.

Working Paper No. 54, Debt Conversions in Yugoslavia, by Mojmir Mrak, February 1992.

Working Paper No. 55, Evaluation of Nigeria’s Debt-Relief Experience (1985-1990), by N.E. Ogbe, March 1992.

Document de travail No. 56, L’Expérience de l’allégement de la dette du Mali, par Jean-Claude Berthélemy, février 1992.

Working Paper No. 57, Conflict or Indifference: US Multinationals in a World of Regional Trading Blocs, by Louis T. Wells, Jr., March 1992.

Working Paper No. 58, Japan’s Rapidly Emerging Strategy Toward Asia, by Edward J. Lincoln, April 1992.

Working Paper No. 59, The Political Economy of Stabilization Programmes in Developing Countries, by Bruno S. Frey and Reiner

Eichenberger, April 1992.

Working Paper No. 60, Some Implications of Europe 1992 for Developing Countries, by Sheila Page, April 1992.

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Working Paper No. 61, Taiwanese Corporations in Globalisation and Regionalisation, by Gee San, April 1992.

Working Paper No. 62, Lessons from the Family Planning Experience for Community-Based Environmental Education, by Winifred

Weekes-Vagliani, April 1992.

Working Paper No. 63, Mexican Agriculture in the Free Trade Agreement: Transition Problems in Economic Reform, by Santiago Levy and

Sweder van Wijnbergen, May 1992.

Working Paper No. 64, Offensive and Defensive Responses by European Multinationals to a World of Trade Blocs, by John M. Stopford,

May 1992.

Working Paper No. 65, Economic Integration in the Pacific Region, by Richard Drobnick, May 1992.

Working Paper No. 66, Latin America in a Changing Global Environment, by Winston Fritsch, May 1992.

Working Paper No. 67, An Assessment of the Brady Plan Agreements, by Jean-Claude Berthélemy and Robert Lensink, May 1992.

Working Paper No. 68, The Impact of Economic Reform on the Performance of the Seed Sector in Eastern and Southern Africa, by Elizabeth

Cromwell, June 1992.

Working Paper No. 69, Impact of Structural Adjustment and Adoption of Technology on Competitiveness of Major Cocoa Producing Countries,

by Emily M. Bloomfield and R. Antony Lass, June 1992.

Working Paper No. 70, Structural Adjustment and Moroccan Agriculture: an Assessment of the Reforms in the Sugar and Cereal Sectors, by

Jonathan Kydd and Sophie Thoyer, June 1992.

Document de travail No. 71, L’Allégement de la dette au Club de Paris : les évolutions r écentes en perspective, par Ann Vourc’h, juin 1992.

Working Paper No. 72, Biotechnology and the Changing Public/Private Sector Balance: Developments in Rice and Cocoa, by Carliene Brenner,

July 1992.

Working Paper No. 73, Namibian Agriculture: Policies and Prospects, by Walter Elkan, Peter Amutenya, Jochbeth Andima, Robin

Sherbourne and Eline van der Linden, July 1992.

Working Paper No. 74, Agriculture and the Policy Environment: Zambia and Zimbabwe, by Doris J. Jansen and Andrew Rukovo,

July 1992.

Working Paper No. 75, Agricultural Productivity and Economic Policies: Concepts and Measurements, by Yair Mundlak, August 1992.

Working Paper No. 76, Structural Adjustment and the Institutional Dimensions of Agricultural Research and Development in Brazil: Soybeans,

Wheat and Sugar Cane, by John Wilkinson and Bernardo Sorj, August 1992.

Working Paper No. 77, The Impact of Laws and Regulations on Micro and Small Enterprises in Niger and Swaziland, by Isabelle Joumard,

Carl Liedholm and Donald Mead, September 1992.

Working Paper No. 78, Co-Financing Transactions between Multilateral Institutions and International Banks, by Michel Bouchet and Amit

Ghose, October 1992.

Document de travail No. 79, Allégement de la dette et croissance : le cas mexicain, par Jean-Claude Berthélemy et Ann Vourc’h,

octobre 1992.

Document de travail No. 80, Le Secteur informel en Tunisie : cadre réglementaire et pratique courante, par Abderrahman Ben Zakour et

Farouk Kria, novembre 1992.

Working Paper No. 81, Small-Scale Industries and Institutional Framework in Thailand, by Naruemol Bunjongjit and Xavier Oudin,

November 1992.

Working Paper No. 81a, Statistical Annex: Small-Scale Industries and Institutional Framework in Thailand, by Naruemol Bunjongjit and

Xavier Oudin, November 1992.

Document de travail No. 82, L’Expérience de l’allégement de la dette du Niger, par Ann Vourc’h et Maina Boukar Moussa, novembre 1992.

Working Paper No. 83, Stabilization and Structural Adjustment in Indonesia: an Intertemporal General Equilibrium Analysis, by David

Roland-Holst, November 1992.

Working Paper No. 84, Striving for International Competitiveness: Lessons from Electronics for Developing Countries, by Jan Maarten de Vet,

March 1993.

Document de travail No. 85, Micro-entreprises et cadre institutionnel en Algérie, par Hocine Benissad, mars 1993.

Working Paper No. 86, Informal Sector and Regulations in Ecuador and Jamaica, by Emilio Klein and Victor E. Tokman, August 1993.

Working Paper No. 87, Alternative Explanations of the Trade-Output Correlation in the East Asian Economies, by Colin I. Bradford Jr. and

Naomi Chakwin, August 1993.

Document de travail No. 88, La Faisabilité politique de l’ajustement dans les pays africains, par Christian Morrisson, Jean-Dominique Lafay

et Sébastien Dessus, novembre 1993.

Working Paper No. 89, China as a Leading Pacific Economy, by Kiichiro Fukasaku and Mingyuan Wu, November 1993.

Working Paper No. 90, A Detailed Input-Output Table for Morocco, 1990, by Maurizio Bussolo and David Roland-Holst November 1993.

Working Paper No. 91, International Trade and the Transfer of Environmental Costs and Benefits, by Hiro Lee and David Roland-Holst,

December 1993.

Working Paper No. 92, Economic Instruments in Environmental Policy: Lessons from the OECD Experience and their Relevance to Developing

Economies, by Jean-Philippe Barde, January 1994.

Working Paper No. 93, What Can Developing Countries Learn from OECD Labour Market Programmes and Policies., by Åsa Sohlman with

David Turnham, January 1994.

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Working Paper No. 94, Trade Liberalization and Employment Linkages in the Pacific Basin, by Hiro Lee and David Roland-Holst,

February 1994.

Working Paper No. 95, Participatory Development and Gender: Articulating Concepts and Cases, by Winifred Weekes-Vagliani,

February 1994.

Document de travail No. 96, Promouvoir la maîtrise locale et régionale du développement : une démarche participative à Madagascar, par

Philippe de Rham et Bernard Lecomte, juin 1994.

Working Paper No. 97, The OECD Green Model: an Updated Overview, by Hiro Lee, Joaquim Oliveira-Martins and Dominique van der

Mensbrugghe, August 1994.

Working Paper No. 98, Pension Funds, Capital Controls and Macroeconomic Stability, by Helmut Reisen and John Williamson,

August 1994.

Working Paper No. 99, Trade and Pollution Linkages: Piecemeal Reform and Optimal Intervention, by John Beghin, David Roland-Holst

and Dominique van der Mensbrugghe, October 1994.

Working Paper No. 100, International Initiatives in Biotechnology for Developing Country Agriculture: Promises and Problems, by Carliene

Brenner and John Komen, October 1994.

Working Paper No. 101, Input-based Pollution Estimates for Environmental Assessment in Developing Countries, by Sébastien Dessus,

David Roland-Holst and Dominique van der Mensbrugghe, October 1994.

Working Paper No. 102, Transitional Problems from Reform to Growth: Safety Nets and Financial Efficiency in the Adjusting Egyptian

Economy, by Mahmoud Abdel-Fadil, December 1994.

Working Paper No. 103, Biotechnology and Sustainable Agriculture: Lessons from India, by Ghayur Alam, December 1994.

Working Paper No. 104, Crop Biotechnology and Sustainability: a Case Study of Colombia, by Luis R. Sanint, January 1995.

Working Paper No. 105, Biotechnology and Sustainable Agriculture: the Case of Mexico, by José Luis Solleiro Rebolledo, January 1995.

Working Paper No. 106, Empirical Specifications for a General Equilibrium Analysis of Labor Market Policies and Adjustments, by Andréa

Maechler and David Roland-Holst, May 1995.

Document de travail No. 107, Les Migrants, partenaires de la coopération internationale : le cas des Maliens de France, par Christophe Daum,

juillet 1995.

Document de travail No. 108, Ouverture et croissance industrielle en Chine : étude empirique sur un échantillon de villes, par Sylvie

Démurger, septembre 1995.

Working Paper No. 109, Biotechnology and Sustainable Crop Production in Zimbabwe, by John J. Woodend, December 1995.

Document de travail No. 110, Politiques de l’environnement et libéralisation des échanges au Costa Rica : une vue d’ensemble, par Sébastien

Dessus et Maurizio Bussolo, février 1996.

Working Paper No. 111, Grow Now/Clean Later, or the Pursuit of Sustainable Development., by David O’Connor, March 1996.

Working Paper No. 112, Economic Transition and Trade-Policy Reform: Lessons from China, by Kiichiro Fukasaku and Henri-Bernard

Solignac Lecomte, July 1996.

Working Paper No. 113, Chinese Outward Investment in Hong Kong: Trends, Prospects and Policy Implications, by Yun-Wing Sung,

July 1996.

Working Paper No. 114, Vertical Intra-industry Trade between China and OECD Countries, by Lisbeth Hellvin, July 1996.

Document de travail No. 115, Le Rôle du capital public dans la croissance des pays en développement au cours des années 80, par Sébastien

Dessus et Rémy Herrera, juillet 1996.

Working Paper No. 116, General Equilibrium Modelling of Trade and the Environment, by John Beghin, Sébastien Dessus, David Roland-

Holst and Dominique van der Mensbrugghe, September 1996.

Working Paper No. 117, Labour Market Aspects of State Enterprise Reform in Viet Nam, by David O’Connor, September 1996.

Document de travail No. 118, Croissance et compétitivité de l’industrie manufacturière au Sénégal, par Thierry Latreille et Aristomène

Varoudakis, octobre 1996.

Working Paper No. 119, Evidence on Trade and Wages in the Developing World, by Donald J. Robbins, December 1996.

Working Paper No. 120, Liberalising Foreign Investments by Pension Funds: Positive and Normative Aspects, by Helmut Reisen,

January 1997.

Document de travail No. 121, Capital Humain, ouverture extérieure et croissance : estimation sur données de panel d’un modèle à coefficients

variables, par Jean-Claude Berthélemy, Sébastien Dessus et Aristomène Varoudakis, janvier 1997.

Working Paper No. 122, Corruption: The Issues, by Andrew W. Goudie and David Stasavage, January 1997.

Working Paper No. 123, Outflows of Capital from China, by David Wall, March 1997.

Working Paper No. 124, Emerging Market Risk and Sovereign Credit Ratings, by Guillermo Larraín, Helmut Reisen and Julia von

Maltzan, April 1997.

Working Paper No. 125, Urban Credit Co-operatives in China, by Eric Girardin and Xie Ping, August 1997.

Working Paper No. 126, Fiscal Alternatives of Moving from Unfunded to Funded Pensions, by Robert Holzmann, August 1997.

Working Paper No. 127, Trade Strategies for the Southern Mediterranean, by Peter A. Petri, December 1997.

Working Paper No. 128, The Case of Missing Foreign Investment in the Southern Mediterranean, by Peter A. Petri, December 1997.

Working Paper No. 129, Economic Reform in Egypt in a Changing Global Economy, by Joseph Licari, December 1997.

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Working Paper No. 130, Do Funded Pensions Contribute to Higher Aggregate Savings. A Cross-Country Analysis, by Jeanine Bailliu and

Helmut Reisen, December 1997.

Working Paper No. 131, Long-run Growth Trends and Convergence Across Indian States, by Rayaprolu Nagaraj, Aristomène Varoudakis

and Marie-Ange Véganzonès, January 1998.

Working Paper No. 132, Sustainable and Excessive Current Account Deficits, by Helmut Reisen, February 1998.

Working Paper No. 133, Intellectual Property Rights and Technology Transfer in Developing Country Agriculture: Rhetoric and Reality, by

Carliene Brenner, March 1998.

Working Paper No. 134, Exchange-rate Management and Manufactured Exports in Sub-Saharan Africa, by Khalid Sekkat and Aristomène

Varoudakis, March 1998.

Working Paper No. 135, Trade Integration with Europe, Export Diversification and Economic Growth in Egypt, by Sébastien Dessus and

Akiko Suwa-Eisenmann, June 1998.

Working Paper No. 136, Domestic Causes of Currency Crises: Policy Lessons for Crisis Avoidance, by Helmut Reisen, June 1998.

Working Paper No. 137, A Simulation Model of Global Pension Investment, by Landis MacKellar and Helmut Reisen, August 1998.

Working Paper No. 138, Determinants of Customs Fraud and Corruption: Evidence from Two African Countries, by David Stasavage and

Cécile Daubrée, August 1998.

Working Paper No. 139, State Infrastructure and Productive Performance in Indian Manufacturing, by Arup Mitra, Aristomène Varoudakis

and Marie-Ange Véganzonès, August 1998.

Working Paper No. 140, Rural Industrial Development in Viet Nam and China: A Study in Contrasts, by David O’Connor, September 1998.

Working Paper No. 141,Labour Market Aspects of State Enterprise Reform in China, by Fan Gang,Maria Rosa Lunati and David

O’Connor, October 1998.

Working Paper No. 142, Fighting Extreme Poverty in Brazil: The Influence of Citizens’ Action on Government Policies, by Fernanda Lopes

de Carvalho, November 1998.

Working Paper No. 143, How Bad Governance Impedes Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh, by Rehman Sobhan, November 1998.

Document de travail No. 144, La libéralisation de l’agriculture tunisienne et l’Union européenne: une vue prospective, par Mohamed

Abdelbasset Chemingui et Sébastien Dessus, février 1999.

Working Paper No. 145, Economic Policy Reform and Growth Prospects in Emerging African Economies, by Patrick Guillaumont, Sylviane

Guillaumont Jeanneney and Aristomène Varoudakis, March 1999.

Working Paper No. 146, Structural Policies for International Competitiveness in Manufacturing: The Case of Cameroon, by Ludvig Söderling,

March 1999.

Working Paper No. 147, China’s Unfinished Open-Economy Reforms: Liberalisation of Services, by Kiichiro Fukasaku, Yu Ma and Qiumei

Yang, April 1999.

Working Paper No. 148, Boom and Bust and Sovereign Ratings, by Helmut Reisen and Julia von Maltzan, June 1999.

Working Paper No. 149, Economic Opening and the Demand for Skills in Developing Countries: A Review of Theory and Evidence, by David

O’Connor and Maria Rosa Lunati, June 1999.

Working Paper No. 150, The Role of Capital Accumulation, Adjustment and Structural Change for Economic Take-off: Empirical Evidence from

African Growth Episodes, by Jean-Claude Berthélemy and Ludvig Söderling, July 1999.

Working Paper No. 151, Gender, Human Capital and Growth: Evidence from Six Latin American Countries, by Donald J. Robbins,

September 1999.

Working Paper No. 152, The Politics and Economics of Transition to an Open Market Economy in Viet Nam, by James Riedel and William

S. Turley, September 1999.

Working Paper No. 153, The Economics and Politics of Transition to an Open Market Economy: China, by Wing Thye Woo, October 1999.

Working Paper No. 154, Infrastructure Development and Regulatory Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Air Transport, by Andrea

E. Goldstein, October 1999.

Working Paper No. 155, The Economics and Politics of Transition to an Open Market Economy: India, by Ashok V. Desai, October 1999.

Working Paper No. 156, Climate Policy Without Tears: CGE-Based Ancillary Benefits Estimates for Chile, by Sébastien Dessus and David

O’Connor, November 1999.

Document de travail No. 157, Dépenses d’éducation, qualité de l’éducation et pauvreté : l’exemple de cinq pays d’Afrique francophone, par

Katharina Michaelowa, avril 2000.

Document de travail No. 158, Une estimation de la pauvreté en Afrique subsaharienne d’après les données anthropométriques, par Christian

Morrisson, Hélène Guilmeau et Charles Linskens, mai 2000.

Working Paper No. 159, Converging European Transitions, by Jorge Braga de Macedo, July 2000.

Working Paper No. 160, Capital Flows and Growth in Developing Countries: Recent Empirical Evidence, by Marcelo Soto, July 2000.

Working Paper No. 161, Global Capital Flows and the Environment in the 21st Century, by David O’Connor, July 2000.

Working Paper No. 162, Financial Crises and International Architecture: A “Eurocentric” Perspective, by Jorge Braga de Macedo,

August 2000.

Document de travail No. 163, Résoudre le problème de la dette : de l’initiative PPTE à Cologne, par Anne Joseph, août 2000.

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Working Paper No. 164, E-Commerce for Development: Prospects and Policy Issues, by Andrea Goldstein and David O’Connor,

September 2000.

Working Paper No. 165, Negative Alchemy. Corruption and Composition of Capital Flows, by Shang-Jin Wei, October 2000.

Working Paper No. 166, The HIPC Initiative: True and False Promises, by Daniel Cohen, October 2000.

Document de travail No. 167, Les facteurs explicatifs de la malnutrition en Afrique subsaharienne, par Christian Morrisson et Charles

Linskens, octobre 2000.

Working Paper No. 168, Human Capital and Growth: A Synthesis Report, by Christopher A. Pissarides, November 2000.

Working Paper No. 169, Obstacles to Expanding Intra-African Trade, by Roberto Longo and Khalid Sekkat, March 2001.

Working Paper No. 170, Regional Integration In West Africa, by Ernest Aryeetey, March 2001.

Working Paper No. 171, Regional Integration Experience in the Eastern African Region, by Andrea Goldstein and Njuguna S. Ndung’u,

March 2001.

Working Paper No. 172, Integration and Co-operation in Southern Africa, by Carolyn Jenkins, March 2001.

Working Paper No. 173, FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa, by Ludger Odenthal, March 2001

Document de travail No. 174, La réforme des télécommunications en Afrique subsaharienne, par Patrick Plane, mars 2001.

Working Paper No. 175, Fighting Corruption in Customs Administration: What Can We Learn from Recent Experiences., by Irène Hors;

April 2001.

Working Paper No. 176, Globalisation and Transformation: Illusions and Reality, by Grzegorz W. Kolodko, May 2001.

Working Paper No. 177, External Solvency, Dollarisation and Investment Grade: Towards a Virtuous Circle., by Martin Grandes, June 2001.

Document de travail No. 178, Congo 1965-1999: Les espoirs déçus du « Brésil africain », par Joseph Maton avec Henri-Bernard Solignac

Lecomte, septembre 2001.

Working Paper No. 179, Growth and Human Capital: Good Data, Good Results, by Daniel Cohen and Marcelo Soto, September 2001.

Working Paper No. 180, Corporate Governance and National Development, by Charles P. Oman, October 2001.

Working Paper No. 181, How Globalisation Improves Governance, by Federico Bonaglia, Jorge Braga de Macedo and Maurizio Bussolo,

November 2001.

Working Paper No. 182, Clearing the Air in India: The Economics of Climate Policy with Ancillary Benefits, by Maurizio Bussolo and David

O’Connor, November 2001.

Working Paper No. 183, Globalisation, Poverty and Inequality in sub-Saharan Africa: A Political Economy Appraisal, by Yvonne M. Tsikata,

December 2001.

Working Paper No. 184, Distribution and Growth in Latin America in an Era of Structural Reform: The Impact of Globalisation, by Samuel

A. Morley, December 2001.

Working Paper No. 185, Globalisation, Liberalisation, Poverty and Income Inequality in Southeast Asia, by K.S. Jomo, December 2001.

Working Paper No. 186, Globalisation, Growth and Income Inequality: The African Experience, by Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa, December 2001.

Working Paper No. 187, The Social Impact of Globalisation in Southeast Asia, by Mari Pangestu, December 2001.

Working Paper No. 188, Where Does Inequality Come From. Ideas and Implications for Latin America, by James A. Robinson,

December 2001.

Working Paper No. 189, Policies and Institutions for E-Commerce Readiness: What Can Developing Countries Learn from OECD Experience.,

by Paulo Bastos Tigre and David O’Connor, April 2002.

Document de travail No. 190, La réforme du secteur financier en Afrique, par Anne Joseph, juillet 2002.

Working Paper No. 191, Virtuous Circles. Human Capital Formation, Economic Development and the Multinational Enterprise, by Ethan

B. Kapstein, August 2002.

Working Paper No. 192, Skill Upgrading in Developing Countries: Has Inward Foreign Direct Investment Played a Role., by Matthew

J. Slaughter, August 2002.

Working Paper No. 193, Government Policies for Inward Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries: Implications for Human Capital

Formation and Income Inequality, by Dirk Willem te Velde, August 2002.

Working Paper No. 194, Foreign Direct Investment and Intellectual Capital Formation in Southeast Asia, by Bryan K. Ritchie, August 2002.

Working Paper No. 195, FDI and Human Capital: A Research Agenda, by Magnus Blomström and Ari Kokko, August 2002.

Working Paper No. 196, Knowledge Diffusion from Multinational Enterprises: The Role of Domestic and Foreign Knowledge-Enhancing

Activities, by Yasuyuki Todo and Koji Miyamoto, August 2002.

Working Paper No. 197, Why Are Some Countries So Poor. Another Look at the Evidence and a Message of Hope, by Daniel Cohen and

Marcelo Soto, October 2002.

Working Paper No. 198, Choice of an Exchange-Rate Arrangement, Institutional Setting and Inflation: Empirical Evidence from Latin America,

by Andreas Freytag, October 2002.

Working Paper No. 199, Will Basel II Affect International Capital Flows to Emerging Markets., by Beatrice Weder and Michael Wedow,

October 2002.

Working Paper No. 200, Convergence and Divergence of Sovereign Bond Spreads: Lessons from Latin America, by Martin Grandes,

October 2002.

Working Paper No. 201, Prospects for Emerging-Market Flows amid Investor Concerns about Corporate Governance, by Helmut Reisen,

November 2002.

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Working Paper No. 202, Rediscovering Education in Growth Regressions, by Marcelo Soto, November 2002.

Working Paper No. 203, Incentive Bidding for Mobile Investment: Economic Consequences and Potential Responses, by Andrew Charlton,

January 2003.

Working Paper No. 204, Health Insurance for the Poor. Determinants of participation Community-Based Health Insurance Schemes in Rural

Senegal, by Johannes Jütting, January 2003.

Working Paper No. 205, China’s Software Industry and its Implications for India, by Ted Tschang, February 2003.

Working Paper No. 206, Agricultural and Human Health Impacts of Climate Policy in China: A General Equilibrium Analysis with Special

Reference to Guangdong, by David O’Connor, Fan Zhai, Kristin Aunan, Terje Berntsen and Haakon Vennemo, March 2003.

Working Paper No. 207, India’s Information Technology Sector: What Contribution to Broader Economic Development., by Nirvikar Singh,

March 2003.

Working Paper No. 208, Public Procurement: Lessons from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, by Walter Odhiambo and Paul Kamau,

March 2003.

Working Paper No. 209, Export Diversification in Low-Income Countries: An International Challenge after Doha, by Federico Bonaglia and

Kiichiro Fukasaku, June 2003.

Working Paper No. 210, Institutions and Development: A Critical Review, by Johannes Jütting, July 2003.

Working Paper No. 211, Human Capital Formation and Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries, by Koji Miyamoto, July 2003.

Working Paper No. 212, Central Asia since 1991: The Experience of the New Independent States, by Richard Pomfret, July 2003.

Working Paper No. 213, A Multi-Region Social Accounting Matrix (1995) and Regional Environmental General Equilibrium Model for India

(REGEMI), by Maurizio Bussolo, Mohamed Chemingui and David O’Connor, November 2003.

Working Paper No. 214, Ratings Since the Asian Crisis, by Helmut Reisen, November 2003.

Working Paper No. 215, Development Redux: Reflections for a New Paradigm, by Jorge Braga de Macedo, November 2003.

Working Paper No. 216, The Political Economy of Regulatory Reform: Telecoms in the Southern Mediterranean, by Andrea Goldstein,

November 2003.

Working Paper No. 217, The Impact of Education on Fertility and Child Mortality: Do Fathers Really Matter Less than Mothers., by Lucia

Breierova and Esther Duflo, November 2003.

Working Paper No. 218, Float in Order to Fix. Lessons from Emerging Markets for EU Accession Countries, by Jorge Braga de Macedo and

Helmut Reisen, November 2003.

Working Paper No. 219, Globalisation in Developing Countries: The Role of Transaction Costs in Explaining Economic Performance in India,

by Maurizio Bussolo and John Whalley, November 2003.

Working Paper No. 220, Poverty Reduction Strategies in a Budget-Constrained Economy: The Case of Ghana, by Maurizio Bussolo and

Jeffery I. Round, November 2003.

Working Paper No. 221, Public-Private Partnerships in Development: Three Applications in Timor Leste, by José Braz, November 2003.

Working Paper No. 222, Public Opinion Research, Global Education and Development Co-operation Reform: In Search of a Virtuous Circle, by Ida

Mc Donnell, Henri-Bernard Solignac Lecomte and Liam Wegimont, November 2003.

Working Paper No. 223, Building Capacity to Trade: What Are the Priorities., by Henry-Bernard Solignac Lecomte, November 2003.

Working Paper No. 224, Of Flying Geeks and O-Rings: Locating Software and IT Services in India’s Economic Development, by David

O’Connor, November 2003.

Document de travail No. 225, Cap Vert: Gouvernance et Développement, par Jaime Lourenço and Colm Foy, novembre 2003.

Working Paper No. 226, Globalisation and Poverty Changes in Colombia, by Maurizio Bussolo and Jann Lay, November 2003.

Working Paper No. 227, The Composite Indicator of Economic Activity in Mozambique (ICAE): Filling in the Knowledge Gaps to Enhance

Public-Private Partnership (PPP), by Roberto J. Tibana, November 2003.

Working Paper No. 228, Economic-Reconstruction in Post-Conflict Transitions: Lessons for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), by

Graciana del Castillo, November 2003.

Working Paper No. 229, Providing Low-Cost Information Technology Access to Rural Communities In Developing Countries: What Works.

What Pays. by Georg Caspary and David O’Connor, November 2003.

Working Paper No. 230, The Currency Premium and Local-Currency Denominated Debt Costs in South Africa, by Martin Grandes, Marcel

Peter and Nicolas Pinaud, December 2003.

Working Paper No. 231, Macroeconomic Convergence in Southern Africa: The Rand Zone Experience, by Martin Grandes, December 2003.

Working Paper No. 232, Financing Global and Regional Public Goods through ODA: Analysis and Evidence from the OECD Creditor

Reporting System, by Helmut Reisen, Marcelo Soto and Thomas Weithöner, January 2004.

Working Paper No. 233, Land, Violent Confli ct and Development, by Nicolas Pons-Vignon and Henri-Bernard Solignac Lecomte,

February 2004.

Working Paper No. 234, The Impact of Social Institutions on the Economic Role of Women in Developing Countries, by Christian Morrisson

and Johannes Jütting, May 2004.

Document de travail No. 235, La condition des femmes en Inde, Kenya, Soudan et Tunisie, par Christian Morrisson, août 2004.

Working Paper No. 236, Decentralisation and Poverty in Developing Countries: Exploring the Impact, by Johannes Jütting,

Céline Kauffmann, Ida Mc Donnell, Holger Osterrieder, Nicolas Pinaud and Lucia Wegner, August 2004.

Working Paper No. 237, Natural Disasters and Adaptive Capacity, by Jeff Dayton-Johnson, August 2004.

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Working Paper No. 238, Public Opinion Polling and the Millennium Development Goals, by Jude Fransman, Alphonse L. MacDonnald,

Ida Mc Donnell and Nicolas Pons-Vignon, October 2004.

Working Paper No. 239, Overcoming Barriers to Competitiveness, by Orsetta Causa and Daniel Cohen, December 2004.

Working Paper No. 240, Extending Insurance. Funeral Associations in Ethiopia and Tanzania, by Stefan Dercon, Tessa Bold, Joachim

De Weerdt and Alula Pankhurst, December 2004.

Working Paper No. 241, Macroeconomic Policies: New Issues of Interdependence, by Helmut Reisen, Martin Grandes and Nicolas Pinaud,

January 2005.

Working Paper No. 242, Institutional Change and its Impact on the Poor and Excluded: The Indian Decentralisation Experience, by

D. Narayana, January 2005.

Working Paper No. 243, Impact of Changes in Social Institutions on Income Inequality in China, by Hiroko Uchimura, May 2005.

Working Paper No. 244, Priorities in Global Assistance for Health, AIDS and Population (HAP), by Landis MacKellar, June 2005.

Working Paper No. 245, Trade and Structural Adjustment Policies in Selected Developing Countries, by Jens Andersson, Federico Bonaglia,

Kiichiro Fukasaku and Caroline Lesser, July 2005.

Working Paper No. 246, Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction: Measurement and Policy Issues, by Stephan Klasen, (September 2005).

Working Paper No. 247, Measuring Gender (In)Equality: Introducing the Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base (GID),

by Johannes P. Jütting, Christian Morrisson, Jeff Dayton-Johnson and Denis Drechsler (March 2006).

Working Paper No. 248, Institutional Bottlenecks for Agricultural Development: A Stock-Taking Exercise Based on Evidence

from Sub-Saharan

Africa by Juan R. de Laiglesia, March 2006.

Working Paper No. 249, Migration Policy and its Interactions with Aid, Trade and Foreign Direct Investment Policies: A Background Paper, by

Theodora Xenogiani, June 2006.

Working Paper No. 250, Effects of Migration on Sending Countries: What Do We Know. by Louka T. Katseli, Robert E.B. Lucas and

Theodora Xenogiani, June 2006.

Document de travail No. 251, L’aide au développement et les autres flux nord-sud : complémentarité ou substitution ., par Denis Cogneau et

Sylvie Lambert, juin 2006.

Working Paper No. 252, Angel or Devil. China’s Trade Impact on Latin American Emerging Markets, by Jorge Blázquez-Lidoy, Javier

Rodríguez and Javier Santiso, June 2006.

Working Paper No. 253, Policy Coherence for Development: A Background Paper on Foreign Direct Investment, by Thierry Mayer, July 2006.

Working Paper No. 254, The Coherence of Trade Flows and Trade Policies with Aid and Investment Flows, by Akiko Suwa-Eisenmann and

Thierry Verdier, August 2006.

Document de travail No. 255, Structures familiales, transferts et épargne : examen, par Christian Morrisson, août 2006.

Working Paper No. 256, Ulysses, the Sirens and the Art of Navigation: Political and Technical Rationality in Latin America, by Javier Santiso

and Laurence Whitehead, September 2006.

Working Paper No. 257, Developing Country Multinationals: South-South Investment Comes of Age, by Dilek Aykut and Andrea

Goldstein, November 2006.

Working Paper No. 258, The Usual Suspects: A Primer on Investment Banks’ Recommendations and Emerging Markets, by Javier Santiso and

Sebastián Nieto Parra, January 2007.

Working Paper No. 259, Banking on Democracy: The Political Economy of International Private Bank Lending in Emerging Markets, by Javier

Rodríguez and Javier Santiso, March 2007.

Working Paper No. 260, New Strategies for Emerging Domestic Sovereign Bond Markets, by Hans Blommestein and Javier Santiso, April

2007.

Working Paper No. 261, Privatisation in the MEDA region. Where do we stand., by Céline Kauffmann and Lucia Wegner, July 2007.

Working Paper No. 262, Strengthening Productive Capacities in Emerging Economies through Internationalisation: Evidence from the

Appliance Industry, by Federico Bonaglia and Andrea Goldstein, July 2007.

Working Paper No. 263, Banking on Development: Private Banks and Aid Donors in Developing Countries, by Javier Rodríguez and Javier

Santiso, November 2007.

Working Paper No. 264, Fiscal Decentralisation, Chinese Style: Good for Health Outcomes., by Hiroko Uchimura and Johannes Jütting,

November 2007.

Working Paper No. 265, Private Sector Participation and Regulatory Reform in Water supply: the Southern Mediterranean Experience, by

Edouard Pérard, January 2008.

Working Paper No. 266, Informal Employment Re-loaded, by Johannes Jütting, Jante Parlevliet and Theodora Xenogiani, January 2008.

Working Paper No. 267, Household Structures and Savings: Evidence from Household Surveys, by Juan R. de Laiglesia and Christian

Morrisson, January 2008.