The Landscape of Capital Flows to Low-Income Countries

By Thomas William Dorsey, Zuzana Brixiova, Sukhwinder Singh, Helaway Tadesse

February 1, 2008

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Thomas William Dorsey, Zuzana Brixiova, Sukhwinder Singh, and Helaway Tadesse. The Landscape of Capital Flows to Low-Income Countries, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2008) accessed September 18, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

This paper reviews trends in capital flows and capital-like flows such as official grants and remittances to low-income countries over the period 1981-2006. The survey reveals a broadbased increase in such flows as a share of low-income country GDP across major regions, countries with differing commodity export composition, and countries with differing debt relief status. The increase in inflows is dominated by an increase in private sector inflows, mostly in the form of private transfers and foreign direct investment. Official sector inflows have remained comparatively constant as a share of low-income country GDP and even declined in the most recent years. The paper concludes with some tentative policy conclusions and has a discussion of data issues in the annexes.

Subject: Capital account, Capital flows, Current account balance, Financial account, Fiscal accounting and reporting

Keywords: Account assets, Capital flight, Debt forgiveness, Investment liability, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

78
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2008/051
Stock No:

WPIEA2008051
ISBN:

9781451869132
ISSN:

1018-5941

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