IMF Sovereign Debt Restructuring Framework: Origin, Evolution and Latest Updates of its Main Components

ALEJANDRO GABRIEL MANZO

Direito GV

Revista Direito GV

Lugar: San Pablo ; Año: 2020 vol. 16 p. 1 - 45

2317-6172

The article presents the first manual of the IMF framework for Sovereign Debt Restructurings (SDRs). SDRs processes, in which billions of dollars are negotiated, constitute key elements for the healthy recovery of an over-indebted economy. However, there are no academicals works that analyze in depth the way in which the Fund organizes them. Based on official documents, this paper seeks to fill this gap by explaining how the components that shape the IMF SDRs framework are articulated. To this end, the article analyzes: 1) the framework substantial and procedural rules, in such a way of showing it as an abstract normative structure as well as an action procedure applicable to specific cases; 2) the framework evolution, synthetically presenting the discussions that gave rise to its main components and justified its principal changes; 3) the framework latest updates, which modified sensitive areas of the Fund´s surveillance and lending functions. This analytical perspective closes a logical circle that allows to show the IMF SDRs framework in a historical and integral manner and, in doing so, to give a practical inside view to what the Fund is and how operates