Front Matter Page
Finance & Development
Bahram Nowzad
EDITOR
Shuja Nawaz
MANAGING EDITOR
Rachel Weaving
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Sheila Meehan
EDITORIAL OFFICER
Richard Stoddard
ART EDITOR
Deborah Salzer
GRAPHICS ARTIST
ADVISORS TO THE EDITOR
Andrew Crockett
Vinod Dubey
Howard Handy
Gregory Ingram
Paul Isenman
Arturo Israel
Claudio Loser
Guy Pfeffermann
Alexander Shakow
Alan Tait
U Tun Wai
David Williams
Finance & Development is published quarterly in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish by the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Washington, DC 20431, USA (USPS 123-250). Second class postage is paid at Washington, DC and at additional mailing offices. • English edition printed at Lancaster Press, Lancaster, PA. • English edition ISSN 0015-1947. • Opinions expressed in articles and other material are those of the authors; they do not necessarily reflect Fund or Bank policy. • New readers who wish to receive Finance & Development regularly should apply in writing to Finance & Development, International Monetary Fund, Washington DC 20431, USA, specifying the language edition and briefly stating the reasons for their request. • The contents of Finance & Development are indexed in Business Periodicals Index, Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS), and Bibliographie Internationale des Sciences Sociales. An annual index of articles and book reviews is carried in the December issue.
IMF Survey
Covers developments in the Fund and the world economy…
A biweekly publication to help readers keep abreast of events in international finance, world trade, and the field of international economics. Articles included come under four major headings.
Fund Activities chronicles developments in the International Monetary Fund—including all press releases, major statements, communiques, management speeches, decisions of the Executive Board, and resolutions of the Board of Governors—and summaries of publications such as the Annual Report of the Executive Board, the World Economic Outlook, the Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions, Pamphlets, Occasional Papers, Staff Papers, and the Fund’s four statistical publications. Emphasis is on such issues as the evolution of surveillance over members’ exchange rate policies, the Fund’s role in the financing and adjustment of balance of payments deficits, the adaptation of conditionality, the Fund’s liquidity and financial structure, and the evolutionary reform of the international monetary system. A table of currency units per SDR is a regular feature.
Selected Topics offers a variety of original articles by Fund staff members and the editors of the IMF Survey, including coverage of world financial markets, balance of payments problems, developments in international economics, international assistance, trade, commodity prices, reserves, foreign exchange markets, economic trends, and developing country debt.
National Economies comprises articles on individual countries, stressing the continuing efforts of both industrial and developing countries to attain sustainable and noninflationary growth.
Brief Notes summarizes news of major importance in the fiscal and monetary area, international finance, and countries’ economic and exchange rate policies. Included are tables of recent rates for the SDR and other Fund rates, exchange rate and discount rate changes, and a continuing series of charts on important financial indicators.
Three editions—English, French, and Spanish—are each published 23 times a year, in addition to an annual Supplement on the Fund and an annual index. Private firms and individuals may subscribe at US$30.00 a year. The IMF Survey is distributed without charge to university libraries and to the business addresses of government officials, executives of international agencies, financial writers, and university professors.
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Front Matter Page
Development strategies
Development through the private sector
The views of the new Executive Vice President of IFC
Sir William Ryrie
IFC’s new approach to project promotion
Developing investments by sector or industry
Roger Leeds
Economic reform in China
Toward greater flexibility in planning, more reliance on market forces
Luc De Wulf
Planning in developing countries
From comprehensive production planning to strategic policy planning
Ramgopal Agarwala
Exchange rate policies
Overvalued exchange rates and development
How overvaluation retards growth
Guy Pfeffermann
Black markets in foreign exchange
Origins, nature, and implications
Michael Nowak
External debt issues
Domestic and external causes of the Latin American debt crisis
The crucial impact of inadequate domestic policies
Eduardo Wiesner
The case-by-case approach to debt problems
Why the Fund favors this approach
Azizali Mohammed
Foreign direct investment in developing countries
Trends, policy issues, and outlook to 1990
David Goldsbrough
Financing education in sub-Saharan Africa
The broad policy issues
Alain Mingat and George Psacharopoulos
Urbanization patterns in the Third World
Fostering efficient growth
Andrew Hamer
The role of development finance corporations
Joslin Landell-Mills
World economy in transition
Monetary indicators: 1951-83
Books
Thinkers and Doers, books on the Pioneers in Development, and the World Bank; review article by I.M.D. Little
Role of government; debt issues; rural development; the Tokyo Round; international inflation; income distribution; and the franc zone; reviewed by Bahram Nowzad, Joseph Gold, Francis Lethem, Andrew Feltenstein, Christiaan Grootaert, and Piero Claudio Ugolini
Letters
The Editor welcomes views and comments from readers on the contents of the journal. The contents of Finance & Development may be quoted or reproduced without further permission. Due acknowledgement is requested.
Front Matter Page
Editorial note: Exchange rate matters are within the purview of the Fund; under Article IV of the Fund Agreement, members have certain specific obligations in this regard. Appropriate exchange rate policies promote balance of payments viability and can be powerful instruments for economic stabilization. They have also certain important longer-term implications for economic development and this article, by a senior member of the Bank staff, examines the consequences of overvaluation.
Front Matter Page
Editorial note: If energy prices and inflation were the principal economic issues of the 1970s, there is little doubt that external debt difficulties have dominated the first part of the 1980s. Debt crises are not only an issue for the debtor developing countries, they have also posed serious problems for the international financial system as a whole. In recognition of this, Finance & Development has, in the past two years, devoted considerable space to external debt matters. The two articles in this issue deal with two key aspects of the debt question.