International Lending: Progress and Problems

International lending has a long history. Records indicate that international financiers such as the Fuggers lent money to governments in the fifteenth century; the Dutch financed their expanding international trade and commerce during the seventeenth century. After the Industrial Revolution, the accumulated capital from trade and expanding industrial production was effectively mobilised and lent by the British to foreign governments, industries, and commercial enterprises throughout the nineteenth century. The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 marked the rise of the United States as a major creditor, a role that it still holds. More recently, since 1973 the accumulating wealth of the oil-producing countries has significantly changed the direction and magnitude of international lending.