M-RCBG Senior Fellow-Led Study Group: David Grigorian
Monday, September 25, 4:15-5:45
M-RCBG Conference Room (B-102)
Despite the efforts to assist developing countries with debt overhang and debt service problems during COVID-19 (including via the Debt Service Suspension Initiative, DSSI), the world's leading countries have yet to hammer out a consensus on providing lasting debt relief. After the DSSI, the G20 rolled out the Common Framework (CF) that was intended to bring a broader circle of creditors to the table, but no negotiations have closed under the CF to date. This study group will discuss potential reasons for this outcome and invite attendees to contribute ideas on how to break the logjam between the parties to allow adequate debt relief to be provided to the affected countries.
The discussion will feature M-RCBG Senior Fellow Gregory Makoff as a special guest.
Suggested reading: Georgieva, Kristalina and Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, 2021. “The G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatments Must Be Stepped Up,” IMF Blog, December 2.
David Grigorian has had a successful career at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, DC, having worked on some of the most visible and impactful IMF programs of the past two decades. Throughout his tenure at Monetary and Capital Markets Department, Dr. Grigorian has provided technical assistance advice to governments in a variety of emerging market and advanced countries on issues of sovereign debt restructuring, debt market development, and financial crisis management. For his role in helping the authorities of Jamaica restructure their sovereign debt in 2010, Dr. Grigorian received an Outstanding Effort Award from the IMF’s Managing Director. During 2016-18, Dr. Grigorian was in Asia Pacific Department, where he led the IMF mission to Bhutan and conducted oversight of financial sector in Singapore and Malaysia. In his previous position as the desk economist on Iraq, he helped the country authorities prepare the federal budgets for 2007-09 under occupation and complete two back-to-back Stand-By Arrangements that led to the world’s largest sovereign debt relief ever provided by the Paris Club. Prior to joining the IMF in 2001, Dr. Grigorian worked at the World Bank, where he managed banking sector restructuring projects in Central Asia. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland at College Park and has published extensively in refereed economic journals on a wide range of issues including sovereign debt, banking and capital markets, growth and institutions, remittances, and fiscal performance, and his research is cited widely. Dr. Grigorian also co-founded and led Policy Forum Armenia, a virtual anti-corruption think-tank uniting nearly 50 researchers and public policy professionals with interest in Armenia’s development. As an M-RCBG Senior Fellow, he will be focusing on sovereign debt restructuring issues. His faculty sponsor is Carmen Reinhart, Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System at Harvard Kennedy School. Email: dgrigorian@hks.harvard.edu
This study group / discussion is open to all. Registration is not necessary.
M-RCBG welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs. To request accommodations or ask questions about access provided, please email: mrcbg@hks.harvard.edu