On September 14, 2022, The Sovereign Debt Forum hosted a diverse panel of experts to examine questions surrounding the Common Framework and its ability to provide meaningful debt relief. Moderated by Sean Hagan and Anna Gelpern, this is part of the Sovereign Debt Forum’s regular webinar series on the pressing challenges facing the international community in sovereign debt and related areas.

The Institute of International Economic Law invites you to "Sovereign Debt: An Agenda for The Future", a roundtable hosted by Queen Mary Global Policy Institute on June 21, 2022, 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT.

The world is currently facing an unprecedented level of sovereign debt – and debt is continuing to pile up. The state of sovereign borrowing was critical prior to the pandemic, with several countries already facing limited fiscal space and increasing levels of debt, but the situation has deteriorated, tipping some economies over the edge.

In this roundtable, a group of international experts representing some of the key players involved in sovereign debt will discuss key areas that require further attention in order to draft an agenda to shape the future of sovereign borrowing and management.

The Institute of International Economic Law invites you to Public Bankruptcies and Private Law, a virtual conversation hosted by the International Insolvency Institute on June 15, 2022 from 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. EDT.

This virtual event marks the concluding session of events surrounding DebtCon5, the 5th Interdisciplinary Sovereign Debt Research and Management Conference, hosted by the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy, organized jointly with Georgetown’s Institute of International Economic Law (IIEL), the Sovereign Debt Forum (SDF), and the Centre for Finance and Development at the Graduate Institute of Geneva.

When IMF member governments that miss debt payments to their creditors seek financing from the Fund, its sovereign arrears policies govern the conditions under which it can lend. The IMF reviews its policies periodically to reflect changing circumstances and learn from experience. Sovereign borrowers in 2022 must contend with a more complex creditor landscape, and new information and coordination challenges. The recently completed policy review informs the latest changes to the IMF’s sovereign arrears policies, designed to help members address creditor coordination and transparency concerns.

An expert panel discussed the findings of the IMF policy review against the background of rising public and private debt stocks, and acute sovereign debt vulnerabilities in a growing number of countries around the world.

This virtual conversation is part 2 of a series of virtual events accompanying to the 5th Interdisciplinary Sovereign Debt Research and Management Conference, DebtCon5, hosted by the European University Institute (EUI) from May 25 - 27, 2022 in Florence, Italy. IIEL, SDF, and the Centre for Finance and Development at the Graduate Institute of Geneva are co-hosting DebtCon5 alongside EUI.

Watch Mauricio Cárdenas, Andrés Velasco, and Marc Hofstetter discuss Debt and Fiscal Challenges in Latin America in the first policy session of the webinar series that leads up to the 5th Interdisciplinary Sovereign Debt Research and Management Conference (Florence, 25-26 May 2022). The policy session is followed by an academic session with paper presentations.

The Georgetown Law Institute of International Economic Law (IIEL) and the Sovereign Debt Forum (SDF) are delighted to announce the 5th Interdisciplinary Sovereign Debt Research and Management Conference, DebtCon5, hosted by the European University Institute (EUI) from May 25 – 27, 2022 in Florence, Italy. Leading up to DebtCon5, two virtual programs are being held on May 4 and May 11. Register for the May 4 program now!

Governments in emerging and developing economies have issued a growing share of their debt in their own currencies and under their own laws in recent years. This trend has accelerated with the COVID-19 shock. As a result, domestic debt is likely to play a larger role in the resolution of future sovereign debt crises. A sovereign domestic debt restructuring should be designed to anticipate, minimize, and manage its impact on the domestic economy and financial system.

On December 1, 2021, IIEL and the Sovereign Debt Forum launched a discussion of IMF staff research analyzing policymakers' decision to restructure sovereign domestic debt.

In May 2022, the European University Institute will host the 5th Interdisciplinary Sovereign Debt Research and Management Conference - DebtCon5 in Florence, Italy. DebtCon5 will aim to discuss interdisciplinary research on sovereign debt and related policy issues, and to foster interaction among academics, senior policymakers and supervisors, industry representatives, and other practitioners; and will include high-level roundtables, where practice, policy and research will meet; and parallel sessions, where research papers will be presented.

The ongoing global public health crisis magnifies persistent sovereign debt problems and poses new ones of unprecedented scale and scope. Recognizing the need for creative, research-based solutions, a group of leading academic and policy institutions from around the world will co-host a virtual Distributed Interdisciplinary Sovereign Debt Research and Management Conference—D-DebtCon—in nine countries, spanning five continents, from September 7th through September 18th, 2020.

In a major enhancement of the sovereign debt restructuring process, the G20 and International Monetary Fund endorsed collective action clauses developed by the International Capital Market Association in 2014. These included a ‘single limb’ clause which would potentially allow all creditors to be bound into a restructuring in a single vote. However, this clause was not used in the Argentinian and Ecuadorian restructurings.

Virtual conversation with renowned debt restructuring expert Lee Buchheit and former chief economist for Latin American and the Caribbean of the World Bank Augusto de la Torre on the evolution of sovereign debt restructurings, with a focus on Ecuador.

On 10 June 2020, Sovereign Debt Forum experts and policy officials from the IMF and the World Bank consider the rising tide of debt distress, further aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and review historical precedents, legal and policy options for managing the crisis in low- and middle-income economies.

DebtCon4 is scheduled to take place in September 2020. Format changes to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic will be announced in June 2020. Prior DebtCon conferences have featured keynote remarks by finance ministers and central bank governors, research presentations by leading scholars and practitioners in law, economics, finance, history, sociology and anthropology, and panel discussions of pressing policy challenges, from climate change to financial technology.

In this "Rebuilding Macroeconomics" webinar on May 19, Rosa Lastra and Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal along with Alexander Douglas, Katharina Pistor and Franklin Allen look ahead to when the economy stabilizes, and firms and households have higher debt burdens.

In this webinar co-hosted by the London School of Economics (LSE) and the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) on May 7, Lee Buchheit, Mitu Gulati, and Ugo Panizza, along with Patrick Bolton, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, and Beatrice Weder di Mauro explain why low- and middle-income countries are particularly vulnerable, discuss what is at stake for the world economy, and present a mechanism to implement a debt standstill which would free significant resources to cover some of the more immediate costs of the COVID-19 crisis.

February 10, 2020

Anna Gelpern (Georgetown Law Professor) moderates conversation with Kristalina Georgieva (IMF Managing Director) and David Malpass (World Bank President) on the debt situation in lower-income economies.

December 19, 2019

Book launch featuring conversation with David Malpass (World Bank President) and Kenneth Rogoff (Harvard University) and panel discussion including Anna Gelpern (Georgetown Law).

The Sovereign Debt Forum Launch took place at the at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC on 21 October 2019, in conjunction with the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank. The program featured remarks by Forum directors, affiliated scholars, officials from member universities, international financial institutions, the African Legal Support Facility, and the Netherlands Ministry of Finance. In addition, Official Consultative Group members representing the governments of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States took part in the launch, along with a wide range of academics, civil society representatives, financial market participants, law practitioners, and policy makers.