發展中國家面臨債務的危機（1/2）

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

The developing countries facing a debt crisis (1/2)

Wed, April 5, 2023 at 7:16 a.m. PDT

LONDON (Reuters) - The record number of developing nations at risk of a debt crisis will be high on the agenda next week when central bankers, finance ministers and political leaders convene for the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) spring meetings.

Ballooning inflation, escalating borrowing costs and a strong dollar have made repaying loans and raising money significantly more expensive for dozens of developing nations, pushing several into default last year.

Below is a look at countries that face a debt crunch or have already defaulted on international loans.

EGYPT

Egypt's tourism-dependent economy was hammered by the one-two punch of COVID-19 and soaring food and energy prices, leaving it short of dollars and struggling to pay rising debts.

Cairo secured a new $3 billion IMF package in December by committing to a flexible currency, a greater role for the private sector and a range of monetary and fiscal reforms.

Import and currency restrictions have weighed on economic activity, and a foreign currency shortage continues despite three sizable devaluations since March 2022 that halved the value of the pound. Inflation stands now at a more than five-year high above 30%.

EL SALVADOR

El Salvador cleared a $600 million bond payment hurdle in January. The Central American country has roughly $6.4 billion in outstanding Eurobonds. While the next payment is not due until 2025, concerns about El Salvador's high debt service costs and its financing plans and fiscal policies have pressed its bonds into deeply distressed territory.

The country's move to make bitcoin legal tender in September 2021 effectively closed the doors to IMF financing. However, the risks over El Salvador's embrace of bitcoin "have not materialized", the IMF acknowledged.

GHANA

Ghana is in its worst economic crisis in a generation, spending over 40% of government revenues on debt payments last year. In January, it became the fourth country to seek a rework under the Common Framework.

The West African country secured a $3 billion agreement with the IMF in December, though it still needs to get financing assurances from bilateral lenders to clinch the final sign-off. The cocoa, gold and oil producer has already reached a deal to write down domestic debt and last week kicked off formal debt talks with international bondholders.

LEBANON

Lebanon's financial system began unravelling in 2019 after decades of mismanagement and corruption, and in early 2020 it defaulted. Lebanon has had neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet since Oct. 31.

It reached a provisional $3 billion IMF agreement in April 2022, but the fund recently warned Lebanon was "in a very dangerous situation" due to delays on a range of reforms, including banking and exchange rate overhauls. Beirut devalued the official exchange rate for the first time in 25 years in February. Last month its central bank said it would begin selling unlimited amounts of U.S. dollars to halt spiraling devaluation.

MALAWI

Malawi is grappling with foreign exchange shortages and a budget deficit of some 1.32 trillion kwacha ($1.30 billion), or 8.7% of GDP.

The donor-dependent southern African nation is trying to restructure its debt in order to secure more funding from the IMF, which approved emergency funds in November.

(to be continued)

Translation

倫敦（路透社）- 下週各國央行行長、財政部長和政治領導人將召開世界銀行集團 (World Bank Group) 以及國際貨幣基金組織（IMF）春季會議，屆時面臨債務危機風險的發展中國家數量將創歷史新高。

不斷脹大的通貨膨脹、不斷攀升的借貸成本和堅挺的美元, 使得數十個發展中國家的償還貸款和籌集資金的成本大大增加，並在去年迫使一些國家違約。

以下是面臨債務緊縮或已經拖欠國際貸款的國家。

埃及

埃及依賴旅遊業的經濟受到 COVID-19 以及食品和能源價格飆升的兩面夾擊，使其缺乏美元並難以支付不斷增加的債務。

開羅在 12 月獲得了 IMF 新的 30 億美元一筆撥款計劃, 承諾通過靈活的貨幣、讓私營部門發揮更大的作用, 以及有一系列貨幣和財政改革。

進口和貨幣限制對經濟活動造成壓力，儘管自 2022 年 3 月以來進行三次埃及鎊大貶值，但外匯短缺仍在繼續。 通貨膨脹率目前處於五年多高位的 30% 以上。

薩爾瓦多

薩爾瓦多在 1 月份清除了支付 6 億美元的債券的障礙。 這個中美洲國家擁有大約 64 億美元的未償還的歐洲債券。 雖然下一筆付款要到 2025 年才能到期，但對薩爾瓦多高額償債成本及其融資計劃和財政政策的擔憂, 已將其債券推入深陷困境。

該國於 2021 年 9 月使比特幣成為法定貨幣的舉動,實際上關閉了向國際貨幣基金組織融資的大門。 然而，國際貨幣基金組織承認，薩爾瓦多面臨的比特幣風險 “尚未成為事實” 。

加納

加納正處於一代人以來最嚴重的經濟危機中，去年將超過 40% 的政府收入用於償還債務。 1 月，它成為第四個在共同框架下尋求重組的國家。

這個西非國家在 12 月與國際貨幣基金組織達成了一項價值 30 億美元的協議，但它仍需要獲得雙邊貸方的融資保證才能完成最終簽署。 這家可可、黃金和石油生產商已經達成減小國內債務的協議，並於上周啟動了與國際債券持有人的正式債務談判。

黎巴嫩

在經歷了數十年的管理不善和腐敗之後，黎巴嫩的金融體係於 2019 年開始崩潰，並於 2020 年初違約。 自 10 月 31 日以來，黎巴嫩既沒有國家元首，也沒有完全授權的內閣。

它於 2022 年 4 月與國際貨幣基金組織達成了一項價值 30 億美元的臨時協議，但該基金最近警告稱，由於銀行和匯率改革等一系列改革的延遲，黎巴嫩 “處於非常危險的境地”。 貝魯特在 2 月對官方匯率進行了 25 年來的首次貶值。 上個月其中央銀行表示將開始無限量出售美元以阻止螺旋式貶值。

馬拉維

馬拉維正努力應對外匯短缺和約 1.32 萬億克瓦查（13 億美元）或 GDP 的 8.7% 的預算赤字。

這個依賴捐助者的南部非洲國家正試圖重組其債務，以確保從 IMF 獲得更多資金，IMF 於 11 月批出了緊急資金。

（待續）