Helmut Reisen

• Professor Emeritus Basel U
• University of Basel

Despite falling commodity prices, Africa’s external financial flows have remained stable overall. This chapter analyses trends in those flows; from foreign direct investment and portfolio equity which fell, to remittances and official development assistance which are increasing. It also studies Africa’s tax revenue collection that has dropped becau...

What will be the future impact of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (NDB), two multilateral banks created in 2014 outside the established Bretton Woods system, on multilateral lending shares? So far, the bulk of multilateral lending has been provided by institutions created and ruled by the west. Will the...

How should Germany position itself in a recalibrated world where China and India are becoming increasingly stronger actors? Since 2014, the People's Republic of China has been practising a more assertive global financial diplomacy than before. Was does that mean for the strategic focus of German foreign policy between the poles of transatlantic com...

Wie soll sich Deutschland in einer neu vermessenen Welt mit den stärker werdenden Ak-teuren China und Indien aufstellen? Die Volksrepublik China betreibt nun eine selbst-bewusste globale Finanzdiplomatie. Was bedeutet das für die strategische Ausrichtung der deutschen Außenpolitik im Spannungsfeld zwischen der transantlantischen Bindung und den int...

Im vergangenen Jahr haben die BRICS-Staaten (Brasilien, Russland, Indien, China und Südafrika) die New Development Bank und asiatische Staaten die Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) gegründet. Beide Entwicklungsbanken werden umfangreich vom chinesischen Staat finanziert. Sie stehen in Konkurrenz zum Bretton-Woods-System und werden die glob...

In this paper we study the macroeconomic effects of large exchange rate appreciations. Using a sample of 128 countries from 1960-2008, we identify large nominal and real appreciations shocks and study their macroeconomic effects in a dummy-augmented panel autoregressive model. Our results show that an exchange rate appreciation can have strong effe...

The international system is still governed by a normative framework designed mainly by OECD countries, especially with regard to soft-law standards in the field of development co-operation. However, the growing relevance of 'Eastern donors' is weakening its efficiency and raises the question of how compliance with these standards can be assured in...

Global governance refers to several pillars; one important pillar is the multilateral aid architecture. Its reform can be discussed under the perspectives of representativeness, inclusiveness, and efficiency (of aid delivery). A prerequisite for efficient aid delivery is to map the rising complexity of multilateral development finance, to help iden...

Global governance refers to several pillars; one important pillar is the multilateral aid architecture. Its reform can be discussed under the perspectives of representativeness, inclusiveness, and efficiency (of aid delivery). A prerequisite for efficient aid delivery is to map the rising complexity of multilateral development finance, to help iden...

Discussions on how best to exit from global imbalances to create a more balanced world economy have ignored the impact on poor countries of proposals to redress these imbalances. This paper aims at filling that gap. It gauges the degree of renminbi (RMB) undervaluation; presents evidence on RMB undervaluation and China’s GDP growth rate; surveys th...

(1248) Andrea Goldstein, Nicolas Pinaud, Helmut Reisen and Dorothy McCormick When the OECD Development Centre launched research in 2005 to document the economic, political and social impacts of China’s and India’s economic growth on sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, the arrival (or resurgence) of new important players had triggered concerns amon...

La crise mondiale du crédit qui a frappé les pays industrialisés n’a contaminé les marchés émergents que tardivement. Cependant, en octobre 2008, elle s’est rapidement étendue à tous ces pays, sans distinction ni considération pour ce qu’il est convenu d’appeler leurs « fondamentaux ». Les investisseurs adeptes du « découplage » ont d’abord été ras...

The United Nations conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has blamed the dominance of the US dollar for the global imbalances, leading to global recession. The US dollar has been the dominant reserve currency for various decades, accounting for around two-thirds of global reserves and 88% of daily foreign exchange trades. The US dollar offers...

L’Initiative pour la transparence dans les industries extractives (ITIE) vise à accroître la transparence et la responsabilité des acteurs de ce secteur à travers la publication intégrale et la vérification des paiements effectués par les entreprises et des recettes encaissées par les États.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI, www.eitransparency.org) aims to improve transparency and accountability by the full publication and verification of company payments and government revenues. The revenues flowing from natural resources extraction are huge. EITI is one of the international soft-law tools most supported by the...

La complexité de l’architecture internationale du financement du développement évolue à mesure que de nouveaux acteurs et instruments entrent en scène, compromettant la capacité de l’aide à assurer le développement. Ce chapitre épingle la désorganisation et les incohérences actuelles du système multilatéral, et souligne les enjeux connexes : double...

The complexity of the international development-finance architecture is evolving as new actors and instruments enter the arena. This throws into question the capacity of aid to deliver development. This chapter highlights the current disorder and inconsistencies in the multilateral development finance system and the associated challenges: duplicati...

Over recent years, a number of emerging creditors have increased their aid and lending to Africa’s Low-Income Countries (LICs). This has fed worries that new official lenders may be undoing years of international efforts to rein in over-indebtedness in Africa, to reduce the continent’s exposure to foreign-currency denominated debt and to encourage...

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have become active investors on the financial markets. This working paper meets the increasing thirst for information on the investment activities of Sovereign Wealth Funds, their legal environment and the implications on German stock listed corporations. Thus, this paper examines the history of, and reasons for establ...

The contagion of the global credit crisis from the industrialised countries to the emerging markets has taken some time to develop. Then, in October 2008, it spread rapidly, afflicting all emerging markets, without any distinction or regard to their so-called “fundamentals”. For believers in “decoupling”, the high growth rates, massive foreign exch...

Since the late 1990s, the UNDP Office of Development Studies has raised awareness among the development and donor communities that the enhanced provision of international public goods will be of critical importance to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),1 notably the objectives of reducing poverty (Kaul et al. 1999). The UN conference...

L’architecture internationale du financement du développement se complique avec l’arrivée de nouveaux acteurs et instruments. Les doublons entre donneurs, la dérive des objectifs des projets en cours (« mission creep ») et l’érosion de leur impact remettent en question l’efficacité de l’aide. Des mesures spécifiques concernant les contributions mul...

L’économie du développement peut expliquer à la fois les sources de l’épargne et les motivations ayant conduit à l’essor récent des Fonds d’État, permettant ainsi d’éviter les restrictions d’investissement pour les pays de l’OCDE. De même que les fonds économiques sous-jacents en provenance des pays exportateurs de pétrole diffèrent de ceux provena...

La croissance de nombreux pays africains attire, à un niveau sans précédent, les capital-risqueurs et les investissements boursiers sur le continent. Cet engouement nouveau des investisseurs est favorisé par un environnement, économique et politique, qui devrait aller en s'améliorant.

La crise mondiale du crédit qui a frappé les pays industrialisés n’a contaminé les marchés émergents que tardivement. Cependant, en octobre 2008, elle s’est rapidement étendue à tous ces pays, sans distinction ni considération pour ce qu’il est convenu d’appeler leurs « fondamentaux ». Les investisseurs adeptes du « découplage » ont d’abord été ras...

Les fonds souverains sont devenus des acteurs de premier plan sur les marchés financiers mondiaux. Mais leurs investissements ont régulièrement nourri des craintes, d’espionnage industriel ou d’ordre géopolitique notamment. Pour l’auteur de ce Cahier de politique économique, la raison même de la création de ces fonds devrait permettre de prendre du...

Strong growth in China and India has led to improvements in raw-material exporting countries' terms of trade and attracted complementary finance. The long-term challenge for these countries, where institutions are often fragile, is to avoid the so-called “resource curse”. This paper aims to provide a comparative perspective between policy choices i...

China helps growth and debt sustainability in Africa through debt relief, infrastructure investment and higher exports. China and other emerging lenders should engage in a debt transparency initiative that considers such growth effects. This will encourage emerging lenders to co-operate with the ‘international community’ on Africa’s debt sustainabi...

Development economics can explain both saving sources and motives that have led to the recent SWF boom, thus helping avoid investment restrictions in OECD countries. As the economics underlying funds from oil exporting countries are different from the economics of East Asian funds, so are the appropriate policy answers.

New actors and instruments have increased the complexity of the international development-finance architecture Efficient aid delivery confronts challenges: multilateral duplication, mission creep and loss of leverage. Specific measures of multilaterals’ contributions to the MDGs could promote accountability and reduce complexity.

We argue in this paper that canceling the debt of the poorest countries was a good thing, but that it should not imply that the debt instrument should be foregone. Debt and debt cancellations are indeed two complementary instruments which, if properly managed, perform better than either loans or grants taken in isolation. The core of the intuition,...

We argue in this paper that canceling the debt of the poorest countries was a good thing, but that it should not imply that the debt instrument should be foregone. Debt and debt cancellations are indeed two complementary instruments which, if properly managed, perform better than either loans or grants taken in isolation. The core of the intuition,...

L’annulation de la dette des pays pauvres ne signifie pas que les dons soient la meilleure et unique solution pour allouer l’aide. L’aide sous forme de prêts pourrait se révéler bien souvent préférable, pourvu que la dette reste soutenable. Un nouveau système de prêts subventionnés, assortis de taux d’intérêt supérieurs et de dispositifs d’annulati...

Suppose a DAC donor earmarks $1 billion of taxpayers’ money for official development assistance (ODA). The donor may use two instruments as an outright grant or in combination with a market loan to produce a concessional loan of $2 billion with a percentage grant element of 50 per cent. Many nowadays think the choice should be clear: provide grants...

Supposons qu’un bailleur du CAD (Comité d’aide au développement de l’OCDE) alloue un milliard de dollars de ses recettes fiscales à l’aide publique au développement (APD). Ce bailleur peut faire appel à deux instruments : soit un don pur et simple, soit un don associé à un prêt aux conditions du marché, qui revient à accorder un prêt concessionnel...

Cancelling of poor-country debt does not mean that the best way to give aid is through grants only. Aid through loans may often prove superior, provided that it maintains debt sustainability. A new scheme for soft loans is suggested, with higher interest rates and cancellation provisions if bad shocks occur, to minimise moral hazard and strengthen...

This book demonstrates how the growing economic power of China and India is already influencing the growth patterns of African countries, particularly oil- and commodities-exporting ones. As world prices for commodities rise, producer countries in Africa and throughout the world will gain, but there is more to the story than that. Some African coun...

L’ère marquée par un impact unidirectionnel des politiques macroéconomiques des pays de l’OCDE sur les pays en développement est révolue. L’émergence de la Chine et de l’Inde sur la scène économique mondiale est plus manifeste que jamais. Les liens financiers transnationaux ne cessent de s’intensifier et de se multiplier tandis que le commerce et l...

This paper looks at the ?grants versus loans? controversy. It questions the claim sometimes made that development institutions should refrain from making loans and should instead distribute ODA as outright grants only. It discusses various reasons why developing countries do not have full access to international capital markets beyond the tradition...

This paper looks at the “grants versus loans” controversy. It questions the claim sometimes made that development institutions should refrain from making loans and should instead distribute ODA as outright grants only. It discusses various reasons why developing countries do not have full access to international capital markets beyond the tradition...

This paper looks at the "grants versus loans" controversy. It questions the claim sometimes made that development institutions should refrain from making loans and should instead distribute ODA as outright grants only. It discusses various reasons why developing countries do no t have full access to international capital markets beyond the traditio...

La forte demande d’énergie et de minerais par la Chine et l’Inde a poussé à la hausse les prix internationaux des matières premières, ainsi que le volume et la valeur des exportations africaines.

Supposons qu’un bailleur du CAD (Comité d’aide au développement de l’OCDE) alloue un milliard de dollars de ses recettes fiscales à l’aide publique au développement (APD). Ce bailleur peut faire appel à deux instruments : soit un don pur et simple, soit un don associé à un prêt aux conditions du marché, qui revient à accorder un prêt concessionnel...

The era of unidirectional impacts of OECD country macroeconomic policies on developing countries is past. The emergence of China and India in the world economy is ever more evident. Cross-border financial links are ever more intense and leveraged. Trade and production are ever more integrated between OECD and developing countries.

Three novel macroeconomic policy challenges are discussed in this paper: the macroeconomic implications of China’s emergence; the implications of intensifying financial integration; and the interaction of Asia’s foreign exchange regime with monetary policy in the OECD area. First, China may now be regarded as a price maker on some international co...

• Despite post-Monterrey donor initiatives, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are underfinanced. • The revenue potential, the additionality and the speed of availability of new finance sources, and their political feasibility, are of particular importance. • On these criteria, it is unlikely that global taxes will be introduced in time. • The...

The present level of ODA falls short of the amount needed to finance the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The figure of additional $50 billion per year, roughly the present total of ODA spent by DAC donors, is often quoted (e.g. by the Zedillo Report); it results from the sum of the fight against communicable diseases ($ 7-10 billion), primary...

On September 20, several world leaders met in New York in response to an invitation from President Lula of Brazil to discuss possible new ways of financing the fight against world hunger. The meeting was part of the drive to meet the so-called Millennium Development Goals (MDG) adopted just four years earlier, but which are now in danger of being m...

• Après Monterrey, en dépit des initiatives des bailleurs de fonds, les Objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement manquent de financements. • Les critères de sélection de nouvelles ressources sont : leur rendement potentiel, leur complémentarité et la rapidité de leur mobilisation, ainsi que la faisabilité politique de cette mobilisation. • Au...

The so-called “accession economies” preparing to enter the European Union are experiencing increased inward capital flows based upon positive interest spreads and expectations of currency appreciation. While the authorities of these countries have tried to manage these flows and to prevent unjustified appreciation of their currencies, the policy mi...

The paper aims at deriving lessons for macroeconomic policy in developing countries in response to heavy temporary capital inflows as witnessed in the early 1990s. First, after spelling out the major reasons why policymakers should be concerned about cyclical inflows, the volatility of different capital-account items (bank lending, foreign direct i...

This paper deals with how the exchange-rate regime of Argentina and Mexico shaped macroeconomic performance over the period 1994-2001. The purpose of the analysis is to draw lessons for Latin American and other countries on whether and how the choice of the exchange-rate regime can help sustained growth. As it is impossible to isolate the growth ef...

In terms of foreign finance, the single most important visitor to a developing country in the 1960s was a representative from a Western aid agency; in the 1970s it was a commercial banker eager to recycle OPEC surpluses; and in the 1980s it was an IMF official. Since then it has been a sovereign analyst from one of the leading rating agencies: Mood...

The increased importance of rating agencies for emerging-market finance has brought their work to the attention of a wider group of observers—and under criticism. This paper evaluates whether the importance of ratings for developing-country finance has changed and whether rating agencies have modified the determinants for their rating decisions. It...

Whenever development financing is discussed these days, it is hard to avoid mention of the Tobin tax. Generally, the question people ask is whether it would be feasible, even desirable, to put a tax on global capital flows to finance development. The issue also came up for discussion at the UN Financing for Development Conference, in Monterrey (Mex...

Concerns about corporate governance standards have often centred on emerging markets, notably after the 1997-98 Asian crisis. A series of corporate scandals have now raised investor concerns over the quality of earnings and opaque balance sheet structures in the US and other developed countries. The paper assesses the impact of higher risk on devel...

As a result of the Asian crisis, both the virtues of domestic savings and the risks of foreign savings have been emphasized in the debate on development finance. In particular, East Asia, with its enviable saving rates, it has been argued by economists such as Joe Stiglitz and Jagdish Bhagwati, does not need foreign funds for investment and growth....