Crises de dette souveraine : vers une nouvelle résolution ?

Default on the public debt in Argentina in December 2001 has speed up concerns on how to reform the way of resolving sovereign debt crises. The current process of debt restructuring is too long, uncertain, with adverse effects on both debtor and creditors. During the last meeting of the IMFC, two approaches to reform were examined : contractual and statutory approaches. The first conclusions of the IMFC favour a contractual reform. Nevertheless, the IMFC does not seem to give up to the more ambitious statutory reform, whose some points are unresolved for the moment. This article aims at presenting the issue at stake. After reviewing the way to treat debt restructuring since Mexican default in 1982, we present the limits of the current form to resolve crises. Then, the content of the two approaches is exposed. Finally, we discuss some key points of these propositions.