This paper provides a description and analysis of recent developments in international capital (banking and bond) markets and an assessment of market conditions and prospects for financing flows, in particular

Experience with multilateral debt restructurings with official creditors and with international banks in the second half of the 1970s was described in External Indebtedness of Developing Countries, issued in 1981. The present paper reviews recent developments, covering the period through early October 1983.

The external indebtedness of non-oil developing countries has been of growing concern in recent years. Several factors have brought the debt issue to the forefront of the problems facing a number of countries, including the rapid rise in extenal debt in the recent past, changes in the composition of debt (toward a greater proportion owed to commercial banks) and the attendant deterioration in the terms of debt, and the rise in debt service resulting from these developments.

This paper provides a description and analysis of recent developments in international capital markets and an assessment of the prospects for private financing flows, in particular to the developing countries.