External sovereign debt restructurings: Delay and replay

Today, more than half of low-income countries eligible for relief under the Debt Service Suspension Initiative are either in debt distress or at high risk. Several emerging markets have either recently restructured (Argentina and Ecuador) or remain in default (Lebanon, Surinam, and Venezuela). In this context, this column reviews some of the features of external sovereign debt restructurings. It shows that default spells are lengthy and that the road to debt-crisis resolution is often littered with serial restructuring agreements.