AVOIDING A NEW DEBT CRISIS | BdF-Ferdi-FDL Seminar | 7th April

INTRODUCTION

• Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, Deputy Governor, Banque de France
• Patrick Guillaumont, President, Foundation for Studies and Research on International Development (Ferdi)

ROUNDTABLE 1 | Debt sustainability in the light of climate change

What impact does climate change have on the debt trajectories of developing countries? How can the investments needed for sustainable development be made on affordable terms?

How can the climate dimension be better integrated into debt sustainability analyses, in particular by taking into account the horizons of climate adaptation or transition investments? How to include domestic debt, while existing monitoring tools are generally focused on external sustainability?

How can  public debt management take into account the climate dimension? What role for debt-for-climate swaps? How can international financial institutions intervene?

MODERATION:

• Bruno Cabrillac, Deputy Director General of Research and International Relations, Banque de France

INTRODUCTION:

• William Roos, Head of the Multilateral Affairs and Development Department, Direction générale du Trésor (French Treasury)

PANEL:

• Renganaden Padayachy, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Mauritius
• Daniela Magalhães Prates, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, UNCTAD
• Brad Setser, Whitney Shepardson Senior fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

ROUNDTABLE 2 | The instruments of a contingent treatment of debt

How can we improve policies for protecting countries from exogenous shocks? What is the ability of multilateral development banks and the International Monetary Fund to provide lending surges?

What debt instruments should best deal with climate and other crises? How do they compare, compete or complement with other risk-sharing devices?

Can multilateral lenders also adopt climate or other shocks-related clauses ? Will the market accept generalised NPV-neutral instruments? What can the Paris summit achieve in this regard?

MODERATION:

• Hamouda Chekir, Founding Member, Finance for Development Lab (FDL)

PANEL:

• Veda Poon, HM Treasury, Director, International Finance, UK
• Tahir Hamid Nguilin, Minister of Finance, Budget and Public Accounts, Chad
• Avinash Persaud, Emeritus Professor, Gresham College, UK
• Kawtar Ed-Dahmani, member of Emerging Markets Debt Group, Barings