A Survey of the External Debt Situation in Asian and Pacific Developing Countries 1989-1992

Abstract

The international debt crisis since 1982 has created serious problems for the developing world. Fortunately, the Asian and Pacific developing countries (APDCs) as a whole has compared favorably with the rest of the developing world in terms of a lighter debt burden and better debt service records. However, the debt situation among the APDCs differ significantly by country. Some of the APDCs have been severely and adversely affected by the debt crisis. The expected slowdown in the world economy and problems in the global financial market add considerable uncertainties to the debt situation in APDCs in the near future. The availability of credit to the APDCs will also be affected by the consequences of the Gulf crisis and East European reforms. The aims of this survey are to review the external debt situation in APDCs under the new International environment during 1989 and 1990 and provide some projections for 1991 and 1992. Compared with previous surveys, the present paper adds a section on the debt outlook for APDCs in the next two years. Section II reviews briefly the main features of the external debt situation in the developing world. Section III analyzes the changes in the external debt of APDCs in the past two years. Section IV provides projections on debt indicators for 1991 and 1992. Finally Section V highlights major findings. An appendix provides detailed statistical data.