The Effect of Institutions, Geography, Development Assistance and Debt Crises on Public-Debt Management

Using survey data on debt management strategies, this paper studies whether the probability that a country has a debt management strategy, publishes its debt strategy, and uses a benchmark-based strategy is affected by democratic accountability, institutional quality, past debt crises/defaults, IFIs development assistance, and participation in debt management programs. We find that countries located in Latin America and Caribbean are less likely to have developed a debt management strategy and, if they have, they are less likely to publish it. In contrast, countries located in Middle East and North Africa are less likely to use quantitative benchmarks in formulation of their debt management strategy. A country is more likely to have developed a debt management strategy if it has an experience of a past debt crisis, but not of repeated debt crises. Institutional quality and democratic accountability could significantly contribute to emergence of more transparent and accountable debt management strategies in developing countries. IFIs' technical assistance on public debt management could be enhanced by IFIs conducting their own, prior diagnostic reviews.