Do Secondary Markets Believe in Life After Debt?," in H. Ishrat and I. Diwan (eds.) Dealing with the Debt Crisis

Secondary market values tend to reflect past difficulties rather than anticipate future ones. They can't be used to build a case for debt relief on the grounds that it would cause secondary dis-counts to fall and hence the value of outstanding debt to rise. The Policy, Planning, and Research Complex disLributes PPR Working Papers to disseminate the findings of work in progress and to enoourage the exchange of ideas among Bank staff and all others interesed in development issues. These papers carry the names of the authors, reflect only their views, and should be used and ciLed accordingly. The FLndings, interpruauons, and conclusions are the authors ' own. They should not be attubuted to thc World Bank, its Board of Directors, its managnment. or any of its member countries Pu bl ic Di sc lo s