The Impact of Debt on Economic Development of the Western Balkan Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-379
Author(s):  
Mehdija Ćosović

Abstract The degree of increased indebtedness in the Western Balkan countries is generated by increasing consumption in terms of increased economic growth and structural reforms. Although these countries have shown an increase in exports and foreign direct investment over the past few years, the current account deficit remains high, especially in the ratio between external debt and GDP, which is not only high but at the stage of growth. Also, as domestic financial markets are underdeveloped, these countries are to a large extent exposed to an increase in the price of foreign borrowing. The current borrowing policy continues with increasing investment in non-productive consumption, which requires renewed borrowing. The presentation of debt trends, analysis and comparison of external debt of these countries show relevant guidelines in the selection of an adequate economic policy that would enhance the competitiveness of this part of the Balkans. Also, a comparative analysis of the indebtedness ratio will especially assess the state of indebtedness in Serbia, the structure and the movement of external debt towards international financial institutions. The comparison in this paper is made using standard indices of indebtedness based on the data obtained from the national statistical institutes and international financial institutions.

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (02) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Kamaldeep Kaur Sarna

COVID-19 is aptly stated as a Black Swan event that has stifled the global economy. As coronavirus wreaked havoc, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted globally, unemployment rate soared high, and economic recovery still seems a far-fetched dream. Most importantly, the pandemic has set up turbulence in the global financial markets and resulted in heightened risk elements (market risk, credit risk, bank runs etc.) across the globe. Such uncertainty and volatility has not been witnessed since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. The spread of COVID-19 has largely eroded investors’ confidence as the stock markets neared lifetimes lows, bad loans spiked and investment values degraded. Due to this, many turned their backs on the risk-reward trade off and carted their money towards traditionally safer investments like gold. While the banking sector remains particularly vulnerable, central banks have provided extensive loan moratoriums and interest waivers. Overall, COVID-19 resulted in a short term negative impact on the financial markets in India, though it is making a way towards V-shaped recovery. In this context, the present paper attempts to identify and evaluate the impact of the pandemic on the financial markets in India. Relying on rich literature and live illustrations, the influence of COVID-19 is studied on the stock markets, banking and financial institutions, private equities, and debt funds. The paper covers several recommendations so as to bring stability in the financial markets. The suggestions include, but are not limited to, methods to regularly monitor results, establishing a robust mechanism for risk management, strategies to reduce Non-Performing Assets, continuous assessment of stress and crisis readiness of the financial institutions etc. The paper also emphasizes on enhancing the role of technology (Artificial Intelligence and Virtual/Augmented Reality) in the financial services sector to optimize the outcomes and set the path towards recovery.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Youssef Cassis ◽  
Catherine R. Schenk

This chapter establishes the conceptual frameworks for assessing memories of financial crises and the ways that the past is used in periods of financial crisis. We use this framework to address three fundamental questions: first, are financial crises remembered, and if so how? Second, have lessons been drawn from past financial crises? And third, have past experiences been used in order to make practical decisions when confronted with a new crisis? These questions are of course related, yet they have been approached from different historical perspectives, using methodologies borrowed from different academic disciplines. One of the objectives of this book is to explore how these approaches can complement each other in order to better understand the relationships between remembering and learning from financial crises and how the past is used by financial institutions. It thus recognizes financial crisis as a recurring phenomenon and addresses the impact that this has in a range of public and policy contexts.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 92 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Bosco Nnyanzi ◽  
John Mayanja Bbale ◽  
Richard Sendi

Increasing domestic revenue mobilization remains a challenge for many governments, particularly in low-income countries. Using a sample of East African countries, the study sets off to investigate the impact of financial development from a multi-dimensional perspective on tax revenues for the period 1990 to 2014, and how political development and the control of corruption would enhance the observed nexus. The dynamic panel results from the system GMM estimation approach indicate a significant role of financial development overall and the financial institutions and financial markets in particular. A disaggregation of the duo suggests that it is the depth of financial institutions that greatly matters for tax revenue, with a one per cent change expected to yield about 0.26 per cent change in tax collections. It is then followed by their level of accessibility, financial market depth and efficiency. We fail to find significant evidence in support of financial market access and financial institutions efficiency although the possibility for the latter seems indismissible. Further evidence points to the catalytic nature of a good institutional and political environment in pursuit of higher tax-GDP ratio via financial development. Policies to promote the depth and accessibility of financial institutions as well the depth and efficiency of financial markets in East Africa alongside well-focused anti-corruption programs and democratic governance are likely to yield better fiscal outcomes in terms of domestic tax revenues critically needed to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We also confirm the positive role played by the lagged tax revenue, per capita GDP, trade openness, debt-to-GDP ratio and population density in the tax effort.


Author(s):  
Mark Pieth

Amongst the key players in combatting corruption are the institutions promoting development assistance, the International Financial Institutions (or Multilateral Development Banks, MDBs) and the bilateral development aid agencies. This chapter questions the effectiveness of development assistance, particularly the autocratic states’ tolerating embezzlement. That discussion also touches on the logic of development assistance and describes donor interest. The chapter then turns to the Oil-for-Food Programme, describing its planned distribution of oil proceeds, and then notes what went wrong, including the topic of the impact of oil surcharges and humanitarian contract kickbacks on the flow of funds. It concludes with a discussion of the contributions of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) toward improving aid effectiveness.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 28-45
Author(s):  
Ya. V. Vishnyakov

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Eastern question and the search for ways to solve it occupied a central place in the politics of both Russia and European states. With his decision was closely linked the process of formation of the young Balkan countries. Serbia, whose formation of a new statehood typologically coincides with a change in the system of European international relations of the 19th and early 20th centuries, played an important role in the events of the Eastern question, while claiming to be the Yugoslav “Piemont”. However, it was the war by the beginning of the twentieth century. It became, both for Serbia and other countries of the region, not only a means of gaining state sovereignty, but also the main way to resolve its own interstate contradictions, which took place against the background of an external factor - the impact on the political processes of the Balkans of the Great Powers. These factors led to the natural militarization of the everyday life of Serbian society. The presence in the everyday consciousness of the people of the image of a hostile “other” became one of the main ways of internal consolidation of the country, when attitudes towards war, pushing the values of peaceful life to the background, created a special basic consensus in the state development of Serbia at the beginning of the 20th century, and the anthropological role of the military factor was essential influenced the underlying processes that took place in the country at the beginning of the twentieth century. In the conditions of a new stage of destruction of the Balkans along the ethno-political line, the factor of militarization of everyday life again becomes an important element of the historical policy of the Balkan countries and the construction of a “new past”. In this regard, the understanding of many problems and possible scenarios for the development of the current Balkan reality is linked to this phenomenon. Thus, the study of the impact on the political life of Serbia at the beginning of the twentieth century of special "extra-constitutional" institutions is important for a wide range of researchers, including for a systematic analysis of the crisis in the territory of the former SFRY.Author declares the absence of conflict of interests.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (37) ◽  
pp. 155-167
Author(s):  
Elnur T. Mekhdiev ◽  
Zulfiya M. Bikmetova ◽  
Elvira N. Iamalova ◽  
Oksana N. Ignatieva ◽  
Aygul F. Samigullina

Today, the global financial system is inefficient in bridging the gap between the developed and developing countries. The dynamically developing countries, such as Asian states, are not satisfied with modern international financial institutions and are actively involved in regional integration, creating new international financial institutions. The newly formed financial institutions contribute to the formation of a different system of financial relations in Asia, which, in turn, is being transformed into the Asian financial system. These trends cannot avoid the impact of the global imbalances. The object of the article is to prove the efficiency of the Asian financial institutions in fighting global imbalances in the region. The major task of these institutions is not the substitution of the current global mechanisms, but their assistance and helping them in solving the global problems on the regional level. The major results include the proof that the developing economies in Asia are more consolidated and capable of conducting a single economic strategy in the long run and the proof of the higher efficiency of Asian financial institutions and their single geo-economic strategy in the long run; this suggests that a new Asian financial system is being built.


Author(s):  
D. Zawieska ◽  
J. Markiewicz ◽  
M. Łuba

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> In the community historical objects play the role of witnesses of the past history. This creates an obligation to preserve and reconstruct them for future generations. Photogrammetric methods have been applied for those purposes for many years. In the process of development of inventory documentation, the key aspects related to the selection of appropriate measuring methods for particular objects and the creation of appropriate working conditions. At present, digital measuring techniques allow developing 3D photogrammetric documentation which is particularly valuable both, for conservators of historical objects, as well as for creating virtual museums. Particular attention should be paid to the utilisation of macro photography for that purpose which allows for recreating small fragments of historical details. The objective of this paper is to present possible use of macro photography for inventory of historical patterns engraved in brick walls of one of the cellars of the Royal Castle in Warsaw (Poland); they are called engravings or house marks. The cellar walls were made of bricks (20<span class="thinspace"></span>&amp;times;<span class="thinspace"></span>10<span class="thinspace"></span>cm) on the stone foundations, where a prison was located in the 17th century. Prisoners left their drawings of signs and crests. Bricks are destroyed, some of them are moss-grown, so many engravings are hardly visible and their depths vary between 3 and 5<span class="thinspace"></span>mm. The Canon 5D Mark II camera with the 50 mm macro lens was used to inventory engravings together with the shadow-free flash, mounted on the lens and a special frame with bolts, being the photogrammetric control network. To ensure the high quality of the 3D model, a network of photographs were acquired from two different distances; they were processed with the use of SfM/MVS algorithms implemented in Agisoft PhotoScan software. The aim of this paper is to discusses the impact of selection of control points on the accuracy of the orientation process, the impact of the point cloud density on correct projection of the digital surface, the influence of the DSM resolution on details of projection of shapes and selection of orthorectification and mosaicking parameters on the accuracy of orthoimage generation.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 605-638
Author(s):  
KÁRI HÓLMAR RAGNARSSON

Abstract:In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis courts and rights took a backseat to demands of markets and international financial institutions for austerity. Deference and judicial restraint were prevalent in austerity litigation across various European jurisdictions. This article argues that the traditional view of deference to political branches on socio-economic rights should be revised in our political-economic context. Drawing on the work of German sociologist Wolfgang Streeck on representation failures of democratic institutions in our neoliberal era, the article argues that law’s abnegation in this sphere has the effect of securing and legitimising neoliberal hegemony and serves the interests of owners of financial capital. Deference in order to avoid judicial overreach does not entail deference to democracy as legislatures have come to view financial markets as their constituency alongside the general citizenry. As public finances have become marketised, deference to legislatures amounts to deference to markets. Judicial minimalism creates not more democracy but a specific set of winners and losers. In light of severe representation failures where legislatures become tools of market justice we might, subject to various caveats, view a more active judicial role as democracy-enhancing and as a potential counterweight in favour of social justice.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-92
Author(s):  
Tamma Reddy ◽  
T. Sita Ramaiah

In this study, we examine the linkages between External debt, Exchange rate, Current account deficit, and GDP at Factor cost for India over the period of 1975-76 to 2018- 19 using the Unit root test and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL). The results of the unit root test reveal that GDP growth rate and External debt are integrated at the level I(0); while the Current Account deficit and Exchange rate are integrated at first order I(1). The results of the ARDL technique reveal that the current account deficit has a positive and significant impact on Real GDP. It clearly reflects the role of imports in accelerating the growth of a developing economy like India. There is also evidence that the external debt has a positive and significant impact on the Current account deficit while the Exchange rate does not have an impact on the Current account deficit. The authors opine that the external debt assists in a gradual reduction in the current account deficit and contributes to economic growth by narrowing down the saving-investment gap. As the demand for Indian exports is inelastic in the global market, the country has not benefitted from the depreciation of its currency. The authors stressed the need for focusing on further diversification of its export markets, creating a conducive environment for attracting longer-term FDIs, liberalization, promoting commercial services exports, and achieving exchange rate stability in the context of the USA-China trade war and stagnation in the world output growth. Huge untapped potential for IT-enabled services should be exploited to promote service trade. The authors point out the current account deficit in the range of 2-3 percent of GDP can be manageable.


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