Abstract
Although this chapter focuses on ‘provisioning’ by commercial banks against their loans to developing countries, it is important to put this development into the general context of the evolving Third World debt problem. As is well catalogued in the literature, the seeds of this problem were, in many ways, sown following the first major hike in oil prices in 1973. Developing countries facing large balance of payments deficits were attracted to the alternative of financing which enabled them to adopt a slower speed of adjustment than would otherwise have been necessary. Even some oil-rich countries were encouraged to borrow on the strength of their oil resources. The required financing was, in large measure, provided through the intermediation of the private international banks with the official sector adopting a relatively muted role.1
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Notes
For a critical review of banks’ approaches to country risk analysis, see Graham Bird, ‘New Approaches to Country Risk’, Lloyds Bank Review, October 1986.
For a fuller analysis of the bargaining positions of creditors and debtors see Benjamin J. Cohen, ‘The Political Economy of LDC Debt’, mimeographed, August 1988.
For a concise presentation of this point of view see Martin Feldstein, ‘Muddling Through Can Be Just Fine’, The Economist, 27 June 1987.
For a review of some of these see Graham Bird, International Financial Policy and Economic Development: A Disaggregated Approach, Macmillan, London, 1987.
See Benjamin J. Cohen, ‘Needed: An International Chapter 11’, mimeographed, June 1987.
For a more fully developed analysis of the scope for expanded co-financing see, Graham Bird, Developing Country Borrowing from Private Markets: Key Aspects and Prospects for the Future, Report for the External Debt Division of the World Bank, June 1985.
However, for a critical review of proposals to set up an Interest Rate Compensation Facility within the IMF, see Graham Bird, ‘Interest Rates and Debt: Would A Cap Fit?’ World Development, September, 1987.
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© 1989 Graham Bird
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Bird, G. (1989). Commercial Bank Provisioning against Claims on Developing Countries. In: Commercial Bank Lending and Third-World Debt. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-10831-2_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-10831-2_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-10833-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-10831-2
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