Evolving World Debt Problem (Wilton Park Papers : No 17)

Although it is commonly associated with the developing countries, debt crisis extends to Eastern Europe and major OECD economies. The "Mexican Weekend" in 1982 marked the transition of the debt crisis from a commercial crisis, to an economic and political one. This incident exposed the reality that there was no international mechanism for collecting debts from sovereign debtors. This paper is based on a conference at Wilton Park where delegates discussed the distinction between internal causes and external shocks, banks' attitudes to further lending and the roles played by the IMF and the World Bank.