Sovereign Debt with Jill Dauchy

Elena Duggar, Managing Director and Chief Credit Officer for the Americas at Moody's Investor Services, joins the show to unpack the sovereign credit ratings process, the challenges shaping the industry, and the future of credit ratings.

Iolanda Fresnillo, Policy and Advocacy Manager - Debt Justice for Eurodad, joins the show to discuss her recent report on debt swaps, "Miracle or mirage? Are debt swaps really a silver bullet?"

TCX's Ruurd Brouwer, CEO, and Harald Hirschhofer, Senior Advisor, join the show to discuss the mission of the TCX fund, the "original sin" of borrowing in a foreign currency, and their proposed package of reforms to create currency risk markets. 

Hoang Pham, deputy division chief in the legal department of the International Monetary Fund, joins the show to walk us through everything we need to know about the IMF's special drawing rights. 

Joan Oriol Prats Cabrera, Lead Financial Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank, joins the show to discuss the IADB's role in the recent Ecuador debt-for-nature swap and to address some of the major questions of the deal. 

Cesar Arias, former Director of the Debt Management Unit of Colombia, joins the show to discuss the strategies and challenges in creating the country's green bond issuance program. 

Baba Musa, Director General of WAIFEM, the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management, joins to discuss the current polycrisis facing Nigeria and many African countries, including the ongoing economic recovery from the pandemic, rising global interest rates, food insecurity, other impacts of the war in Ukraine, regional conflict in Sudan, and of course climate change.

Thierry Watrin, Green Economy Advisor to the Minister of State of Rwanda, joins “Sovereign Debt” to discuss Rwanda's various climate and debt management initiatives. 

Herman Kamil, Director of the Debt Management Unit of Uruguay, joins “Sovereign Debt” to discuss the parameters of Uruguay's sustainability-linked bond.

To kick off the new year, "Sovereign Debt" is sharing Jill Dauchy's keynote address given at a retreat for UN Member State representatives on Financing for Development. The retreat is part of of the UN systems' Financing for Development Report, which is a basis for government negotiations on financing issues at the annual FfD Forum.

Sonja Gibbs, Managing Director and Head of Sustainable Finance and Global Policy Initiatives at the Institute of International Finance, joins "Sovereign Debt" to discuss some of the IIF's key initiatives. 

Mark Flanagan, Director of the Strategy and Policy Review Department of the IMF, joins “Sovereign Debt” to discuss the newly-revised debt sustainability framework for market access countries, and more generally the uses and policies of the DSA.  

Brad Setser, economist at the Council of Foreign Relations, joins “Sovereign Debt” to discuss the impact of the Fed's decision to raise interest rates, the disruption of energy markets and the implications of it all on the world.

Jim Ho, a partner at Cleary Gottlieb, joins ‘Sovereign Debt' to discuss the introduction and use of natural disaster clauses and how Barbados has created a resilient debt portfolio. 

Yan Liu, Deputy General Counsel for the International Monetary Fund, joins Sovereign Debt to discuss the "why, what, and how" of the newly created IMF Resilience and Sustainability Trust.

Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Deputy Director of the Strategy and Policy Review Department of the International Monetary Fund, joins Sovereign Debt to discuss the recent changes to arrears policies at the IMF. 

Ugo Panizza, Professor of Economics and Pictet Chair in Finance and Development at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, joins Sovereign Debt to discuss climate debt, how rich countries can compensate poor countries to develop sustainable initiatives, and his forthcoming paper. 

Zsolt Darvas, senior fellow at Bruegel, joins Sovereign Debt to discuss how the EU fiscal rules can be revised to support increased green investments in Europe, and the implications of EU fiscal constraints on emerging market countries. 

Mitu Gulati, John V. Ray Research Professor of Law at the University of Virginia, and Mark Weidermaier, Ralph M. Stockton, Jr. Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – also hosts of the Clauses and Controversies podcast - join 'Sovereign Debt' to discuss the impact of the war in Ukraine on multilateralism, and how to increase the effectiveness of sustainable finance.

Anna Gelpern, Professor of Law, Anne Fleming Research Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics joins Sovereign Debt to discuss "How China Lends," her work published last year which looked into 100 debt contracts between Chinese entities and 24 developing countries throughout the world. 

Ekaterina Gratcheva, Lead Finance Officer of the Climate Investment Funds, joins Sovereign Debt to discuss the work of the Climate Investment Funds and her research on the role of human rights in the growing industry of sovereign ESG investments. 

Given the changes happening around the world, we're revisiting our first episode of the podcast with Ambassador Frank G. Wisner. We discussed the rise of China, US policy in the Middle East and America's need to re-imagine its place in the world.

Mark McNamee, Director of Europe at FrontierView, joins "Sovereign Debt" to talk about the Russian war on Ukraine, how we got here and where are we going, its lasting impact on global coordination and the role of China. 

Yannis Manuelides, partner at Allen & Overy, joins “Sovereign Debt'” to discuss how the International Financial Architecture is changing and how the conflict between Russia and Ukraine further complicates global coordination. 

Fiona Stewart, Lead Financial Sector Specialist, Finance, of the Competitiveness & Innovation division, joins Sovereign Debt to discuss the World Bank's efforts to link sovereign debt to climate and nature outcomes.

Matt Vodola, Managing Director at Potomac Group, joins Sovereign Debt to discuss the sovereign debt market in 2021 and look ahead to 2022.

Julie Robinson, marine biologist and program director for The Nature Conservancy's Belize Program, joins Sovereign Debt to discuss the on-the-ground impact of the recent debt swap and the 30-year history of TNC in her home country. 

Esteban Brenes, Director of Conservation Finance at the World Wildlife Fund, joins Sovereign Debt to discuss his history working on debt swaps and his current work with the WWF.

Jean-Paul Adam, former Minister of Finance of the Seychelles, joins Sovereign Debt to discuss the Seychelles debt-for-nature swap from 2015 and his current role with the United Nations Economic Council for Africa. 

Dr. Deborah Bräutigam, Director of the China-Africa Research Initiative at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, joins Sovereign Debt to discuss the rise of China and the “debt diplomacy” of the country. 

Kevin Bender, senior director of sustainable debt at The Nature Conservancy, joins Sovereign Debt to discuss the ins and outs of TNC's debt-for-marine conservation deal with Belize that swapped the country's existing external debt. 

Sovereign Debt with Jill Dauchy is off this week for the Thanksgiving holiday in the states, but we'll be back next week with a new episode. 

Jennifer Morris, CEO of the Nature Conservancy, joins Sovereign Debt to discuss the importance of nature in the financial ecosystem (4:08), COP26 (16:15), and their deal in Belize (25:37).

Arsene Dansou, debt manager for Benin, joins the show to discuss how Benin issued their first Sustainable Development Goals bond (2:39), what an SDG bond means (10:28), some of the challenges that came with issuing it (21:22) and advice for how other countries can issue their own SDG bond (23:26).

In our inaugural episode, Jill Dauchy sits down with Ambassador Frank Wisner II to discuss the rise of China (2:32), US policy in the Middle East (8:28), Sudan (17:50) and America's need to reimagine its place in the world (24:49).