Publications /
Policy Brief

Back
Proposals to Strengthen the Sovereign Debt Restructuring Framework
Authors
Brahima Coulibaly
Wafa Abedin
September 26, 2024

This paper was originally published on t20brasil.org

 

The developing world is once again facing unsustainable sovereign debt levels that threaten to erase several years of progress on development agendas. The COVID-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war, and high interest rates are the latest in a series of events that have contributed to the recent build-up of debt and raised the cost of debt financing for developing countries. The G20’s Common Framework (CF) for debt treatments is a welcome initiative but it has not been effective. Protracted debt negotiations reveal the challenges presented by new lenders, notably private creditors. Private creditors hold more than a quarter of the external debt stock, up from only 10 percent in 2010, and the cost of servicing private-sector debt makes up more than two-thirds of total debt-service payments. Absent a central sovereign bankruptcy regime, debt restructurings arrive too late, with elevated risk premia and high socio-economic costs. In support of the CF’s aims, we propose a G20-backed effort to incentivise private-sector participation in sovereign debt restructurings. The laws governing sovereign debt fall under a few jurisdictions, all of them in G20 countries who could enact legislation to encourage private-sector participation in debt restructuring. New York and U.K. lawmakers have already begun to propose such legislation. This policy brief elaborates on the deficiencies of the current architecture for sovereign debt restructuring and proposes that the G20 develop a framework to help harmonize and strengthen domestic sovereign debt restructuring laws.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    Edited by
    July 14, 2025
    Available soon on livremoi. The 2025 edition of the African Economic Report continues in the spirit of previous versions. It presents a broad overview of the continent’s economic evolution and offers insights into Africa’s relationship with the rest of the world. In other words, it explores how Africa navigates the effects of global fragmentation within its regional spaces while pursuing its ambition of continental integration. ...
  • July 9, 2025
    Developing countries have few options to deal with the ongoing tariff war amid unpredictable shifts in global supply chains. However, regional economic integration offers a strategic path of development in these uncertain and challenging times. Helped by geographical proximity and cultural familiarity, countries in a region can benefit greatly from promoting trade with one another, reaping the benefits of comparative advantages and economies of scale—if they are able to establish a ...
  • Authors
    Seydina Alioune NDIAYE
    July 8, 2025
    La stabilité apparente des taux directeurs de la BCEAO (Banque centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest) masque une réalité bien plus préoccupante : un resserrement monétaire non déclaré dans la zone UEMOA (Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine) et une rareté accrue de la liquidité qui frappe tout le système. Nous proposons une analyse en profondeur des mécanismes de cette crise bancaire latente, ses manifestations concrètes sur le tissu économique et ses implications pour ...
  • July 2, 2025
    Dans un contexte devenu plus incertain et plus compliqué à la suite des décisions de la nouvelle administration américaine, les impératifs de la lutte contre le changement climatique et de la transition énergétique et écologique demeurent.Les banques centrales peuvent et doivent apporter leur contribution à cette transition, en « verdissant », dans une proportion à définir, la politique monétaire qu’elles mènent. Concrètement, cela veut dire compléter la palette des object ...
  • Authors
    Sana Hninou
    June 25, 2025
    This Paper was originally published on springer.com This study investigates the impact of female agricultural cooperatives on women’s empowerment in Morocco, with a focus on the rural Marrakech-Safi region. The research evaluates the effectiveness of these cooperatives in enhancing women’s empowerment through economic opportunities, participatory governance, and leadership roles. The Global Empowerment Index (GEI) was adopted to measure empowerment across five key dimensions: p ...
  • Authors
    Aram Belhadj
    June 24, 2025
    Les politiques industrielles semblent marquer leur retour, aussi bien dans les grandes puissances économiques que dans les pays émergents et en voie de développement, notamment après la pandémie de la Covid-19, l’accroissement des tensions géopolitiques et commerciales et les effets du changement climatique.L’Afrique n’est pas en reste, surtout qu’une prise de conscience des enjeux liés à la position continentale dans un monde multipolaire est en train de naître. Même au niveau de l ...
  • Authors
    June 18, 2025
    In 2000, The Economist dismissed Africa as the “Hopeless Continent”—a label reflecting a broader system of marginalization rooted in colonial legacy and post-Cold War neglect. This essay offers a realist reappraisal, arguing that Africa’s growing strategic relevance is not the result of benevolence, but of structural necessity.Amid a fracturing global order and the rise of transactional geopolitics under Trump 2.0’s Bessent Doctrine, Africa has become indispensable: rich in critical ...
  • Authors
    El Hussein Fouad
    June 17, 2025
    This paper analyses the stabilization experience in the MENA region, focusing on Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Jordan over the past century. It seeks to answer the question: To what extent have these countries succeeded in achieving resilience to shocks and stresses? Key policy elements included significant fiscal adjustments—varying in scale across countries—and exchange rate developments supported by monetary policies aimed at combating inflationary pressures. The outcomes involved ...