Multilateral debt renegotiations : 1956-1968

This paper is a survey of the multilateral debt relief operations carried out during the period 1956-68. It deals with negotiations between one debtor country and a group of creditor countries leading to a rearrangement of the former's external debt, and it excludes all similar rearrangements negotiated bilaterally. Part I of the study covers past debt rearrangements, bringing out the common characteristics of the procedures and results. Part II deals with the positions of governments and international financial institutions with respect to the main issues of the debt renegotiations and, in particular, with the role of the World Bank.