There are big plans in store for regional co-operation in Asia, although little has so far been done to secure the region against the sort of financial shocks suffered when global capital walked away in the late 1990s. While the IMF was heavily criticised as that crisis enveloped Asia, so far only piecemeal measures have been introduced to prevent a repeat of the carnage inflicted last time round.
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Cash-rich investors seem to be over Argentina, but for the IMF the legacy of the biggest sovereign default just refuses to go away. Besides US$20bn in holdouts that Argentina is ignoring, the event left the IMF’s lending into arrears policy in tatters. This is just one of the areas under discussion in the Fund’s current strategic review. James Crombie reports.
The World Bank cut its lending fees and increased its single country loan limits last month. It faces continuing criticism for lending too much to borrowers with access to capital markets, but this is an ill-informed view of the role of the World Bank, according to acting CFO and senior vice-president for strategy, finance and risk management John Wilton. He spoke to IFR’s Jon Macaskill.
Africa is once again centre stage, and as the IMF meets this year there is much to be optimistic about. With the debt relief process heading towards completion, growth in much of sub-Saharan is stellar. Though there are still many problems – not least with issues around governance and corruption – investors are increasingly looking at Africa as a serious investment target. David Cox reports.
The emerging markets asset class has experienced phenomenal growth over the last two years. Favoured on the basis of strong economic fundamentals and reform, the asset class continues to benefit from the general availability of cheap financing, high commodity prices and abundant global savings. Savita Iyer reports.
Despite coming off the second-lowest funding volume in nine years, the World Bank's first Islamic debt transaction and retail tailored trade with La Poste indicated its maintained emphasis on development and innovation. Andrew Stein reports.
With its first-ever global in Chilean pesos under its wing, the Inter-American Development Bank has taken another step toward developing Latin America's local currency bond market overseas. Anthony Dovkants reports.
Despite keeping a low profile on the debt capital markets in its recently-ended fiscal 2005, the International Finance Corp, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is not aiming to boost issuance in fiscal 2006. Michelle Rama reports.
Funding in local currency serves two distinct purposes for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. As well as offering cost-effective funding levels, raising funds in local currency bond markets allows the bank to fulfil its development role, reports Richard Jory.
In the last 18 months the Asian Development Bank has sold bonds in five of Asia's local bond markets for the first time. It is usually on its terms but at least the ADB is making good on its promise to be more active in its own region. More landmarks are on the way too, with China and the Philippines next. James Griffiths reports.
Emerging market corporates are switching on to securitisation techniques employed more typically by financial institutions, securing access to investment-grade investors and a lower cost of funding. David Bentley reports.
The Middle East region, in particular the Gulf States, has witnessed unprecedented project finance dealflow over the last year – but beneath the headline numbers, trends paint a more nuanced picture and the boom is perhaps more fragile than it looks. Daniel O’Sullivan reports.
If Argentina has warned that one bad decision can pile up into an insurmountable mess, then Uruguay has taught that one good decision often opens the door to privilege and progress. Michelle Rama and Anthony Dovkants report on the conflicting attitudes taken by Latin American governments to the IMF.
The IMF decided on July 7 to postpone its recommendation that the board consider completion of Turkey’s first programme review, citing Parliament’s failure to pass the pension reform bill before the summer recess. Even so the Fund remains supportive of the government's progress, reports John Weavers.
The tsunami that hit the countries around the Indian Ocean and Andaman Sea late last year has presented the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other development banks with unprecedented challenges, reports Luc Mongeon.
The Asian Bond Fund 2 is up and running. Its Pan Asian Index Fund has been listed in Hong Kong and the IPO for Singapore's local currency exchange traded fund was completed at the end of August, raising S$456m. The initiative is intended to develop investor awareness of and increase participation in the region's domestic bond markets. Nick Herbert reports.
The volume of bond issuance from Russian banks is likely to double again this year, as it did last. While investors continue to differentiate between first (mainly state-owned) and second tier banks, the former are leading the drive towards, and getting the benefit of, structural sophistication. John Weavers reports.
While the talk at the Asian Development Bank conference in May was of further regional integration, that Istanbul meeting offered few advances from the Chiang Mai Initiative. But it did provide a further exchange of views between China, Japan and South Korea on regional economic prospects, financial co-operation and ways to improve their representation in the international financial institutions. Matthew Davies and Richard Jory report.