The Global Debt Report examines sovereign and corporate debt markets, providing insights into current market conditions and associated policy considerations, including possible financial stability risks. This first edition consolidates the Sovereign Borrowing Outlook, previously a separate OECD publication, and introduces new chapters on corporate bond markets and sustainable bonds.
Six years from 2030, hunger and food insecurity trends are not yet moving in the right direction to end hunger and food insecurity (SDG Target 2.1) by 2030. The indicators of progress towards global nutrition targets similarly show that the world is not on track to eliminate all forms of malnutrition (SDG Target 2.2). Billions of people still lack access to nutritious, safe and sufficient food. Nevertheless, progress in many countries provides hope of the possibility of getting back on track towards hunger and malnutrition eradication. Implementing the policies, investments and legislation needed to revert the current trends of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition requires proper financing for food security and nutrition. Despite a broad agreement on the urgent need to increase financing for food security and nutrition, the same cannot be said for a common understanding regarding how this financing should be defined and tracked. The report provides a long-awaited definition of financing for food security and nutrition and guidance for its implementation. There are recommendations regarding the efficient use of innovative financing tools and reforms to the food security and nutrition financing architecture. Establishing a common definition of financing for food security and nutrition, and methods for its tracking, measurement and implementation, is an important first step towards sustainably increasing the financing flows needed to end hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition, and to ensure access to healthy diets for all, today and tomorrow.
This book presents a radically different argument for what has caused, and likely will continue to cause, the collapse of emerging market economies. Pettis combines the insights of economic history, economic theory, and finance theory into a comprehensive model for understanding sovereign liability management and the causes of financial crises. He examines recent financial crises in emerging market countries along with the history of international lending since the 1820s to argue that the process of international lending is driven primarily by external events and not by local politics and/or economic policies. He draws out the corporate finance implications of this approach to argue that most of the current analyses of the recent financial crises suffered by Latin America, Asia, and Russia have largely missed the point. He then develops a sovereign finance model, analogous to corporate finance, to understand the capital structure needs of emerging market countries. Using this model, he finally puts into perspective the recent crises, a new sovereign liability management theory, the implications of the model for sovereign debt restructurings, and the new financial architecture. Bridging the gap between finance specialists and traders, on the one hand, and economists and policy-makers on the other, The Volatility Machine is critical reading for anyone interested in where the international economy is going over the next several years.
The OECD Global Corporate Sustainability Report aims to enhance the adoption of corporate governance policies that promote the sustainability and resilience of companies. It examines the evolving landscape of corporate sustainability practices worldwide and includes a focus on key dimensions outlined in the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, such as sustainability-related disclosure, shareholder-company dialogue, board responsibilities, and stakeholder interests. It offers comprehensive data analysis specifically designed to meet the needs of policymakers, regulators, and market participants.
This report provides an assessment of the Swedish corporate bond market and policy recommendations to improve its functioning, drawing from detailed empirical analysis and in-depth interviews with market participants.
Aligning finance with climate policy goals is crucial for achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and resilience to climate change, as called for by Article 2.1c of the Paris Agreement. Evidence-based policy making and investment decisions towards such alignment need to be informed by robust assessments. To support such efforts, this inaugural OECD Review on Aligning Finance with Climate Goals brings together best-available evidence on three core questions: (i) How is climate alignment of finance assessed? (ii) What do we know about current finance flows and stocks? (iii) What evidence exists on the role of financial sector policies and actions? The report identifies actions policymakers and financial sector stakeholders can take to improve the evidence base and better align finance with climate goals. It further sets out good practices to prevent greenwashing and inaccurate claims of climate alignment.
The ASEAN region’s economic expansion has created significant financing needs among corporations and investment opportunities for households. This report aims to support ASEAN policy makers harness opportunities and address barriers in mobilising capital markets for sustainable growth and development in the region. It focuses on the functioning of capital markets and the corporate sector’s use of market-based financing. It also examines current corporate governance regulatory frameworks, emerging artificial intelligence trends in finance, and sustainable finance developments with a focus on corporate sustainable bonds.
International Debt Statistics (IDS), a long-standing annual publication of the World Bank, features external debt statistics and analysis for the 120 low- and middle-income countries that report to the World Bank Debtor Reporting System. IDS 2021 includes (1) an overview analyzing global trends in debt stocks of and debt flows to low- and middle-income countries within the framework of aggregate capital flows (debt and equity); (2) a feature story on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Debt Service Suspension Initiative in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; (3) tables and charts detailing debtor and creditor composition of debt stock and flows, terms of new commitments, and maturity structure of future debt service payments and debt burdens, measured in relation to gross national income and export earnings for each country; (4) one-page summaries per country, plus global, regional, and income group aggregates showing debt stocks and flows, relevant debt indicators, and metadata for six years (2009 and 2015†“19); and (5) a user guide describing the tables and content, definitions and rationale for the country and income groupings used in the report, data notes, and information about additional resources and comprehensive data sets available to users online. Unique in its coverage of the important trends and issues fundamental to the financing of low- and middle-income countries, IDS 2021 is an indispensable resource for governments, economists, investors, financial consultants, academics, bankers, and the entire development community. For more information on IDS 2021 and related products, please visit the World Bank’s Data Catalog at https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/international-debt-statistics.
An interesting disconnect has taken shape between local currency- and hard currency-denominated bonds in emerging markets with respect to their portfolio flows and prices since the start of the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Emerging market assets have recovered sharply from the COVID-19 sell-off in 2020, but the post-pandemic recovery in 2021 has been highly uneven. This note seeks to answer why. Yields of local currency-denominated bonds have risen faster and are approaching their pandemic highs, while hard currency bond yields are still near their post-pandemic lows. Portfolio flows to local currency debt have similarly lagged flows to hard currency bonds. This disconnect is closely linked to the external environment and fiscal and inflationary pressures. Its evolution remains a key consideration for policymakers and investors, since local markets are the main source of funding for emerging markets. This note draws from the methodology developed in earlier Global Financial Stability Reports on fundamentals-based asset valuation models for funding costs and forecasting models for capital flows (using the at-risk framework). The results are consistent across models, indicating that local currency assets are significantly more sensitive to domestic fundamentals while hard currency assets are dependent on the external risk sentiment to a greater extent. This suggests that the post-pandemic, stressed domestic fundamentals have weighed on local currency bonds, partially offsetting the boost from supportive global risk sentiment. The analysis also highlights the risks emerging markets face from an asynchronous recovery and weak domestic fundamentals.
