Debt Crisis and Development in Latin America: 10 Years after the Outbreak

1 See United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Social Equity and Changing Production Patterns: an Integrated Approach, (Santiago, Chile, 1992); P. Krugman, The age of diminishing expectations, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990); O. Sunkel, ed., Development from Within: Toward a Neostructuralist Approach for Latin America, (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1993).

2 See ECLAC, Social Equity and Changing Production Patterns; R. Ffrench-Davis, & R. Devlin `Una breva historia de la crisis de la deuda latinoamericana', in Alberto Cuevas, ed., América Latina: La società contemporanea (Rome: Edizione Lavoro, vol.III, forthcoming 1993).

3 In the case of Chile, for example, in 1982 two-thirds of the foreign debt was private and with no government guarantees. In 1987, after various rescheduling rounds and new borrowing by the Central Bank to save several private banks and domestic debtors from bankruptcy, this proportion fell to 15%. The most striking feature of this `nationalization' of private liabilities is that Chile obtained from banks few or no concessions in exchange, but a generous flow from multilateral institutions (IMF, IDB and IBRD).

4 See O. Altimir, `Income Distribution and Poverty Through Crisis and Adjustment', in G. Bird and A. Helwege, eds, Latin American Recovery, (New York: Academic Press, forthcoming 1993).

5 In 1987-88 the foreign debt of the Latin American public sector was equal to 170% of current public revenue. As LIBOR plus the spread averaged 8.3% in that biennium, almost 15% of current public revenue had to be used to service foreign debt.

6 The Uruguay Round, as it now stands the Draft of the Final Act of December 1991, would pose some significant obstacles to increasing productivity and acquiring new comparative advantages. In fact, many of the policies adopted by successful newly industrialized nations — first the predecessor Japan and then, for instance, Korea and Taiwan — if that act is enacted would be precluded for LDCs. See D. Tussie, `The Uruguay Round and the Trading System in the Balance: Dilemmas for Developing Countries', in M. Agosin & D. Tussie, eds, Trade and Growth: New Dilemmas in Trade Policy. (London: Macmillan, 1993).

7 See R. Ffrench-Davis & R. Devlin, `Una breve historia de la crisis'.

8 See World Bank World Debt Tables, 1992-93, vol. I, (Washington, DC, 1992).

9 See R. Ffrench-Davis & R. Devlin, `Una breve historia de la crisis'

10 See J. Pronk, `Systems in Disarray', in The Functioning of the International Monetary System and Development Financing, (The Hague: FONDAD, 1993).

11 See ECLAC, Social Equity and Changing Production Patterns.