A critical review of proposals for financial cooperation among developing countries

Abstract

The work reviews the scope for useful south-south co-operation with in the financial area. It examines three main issues whose resolution will be critical to the success of an exclusively Southern financial body: the pre-requisites for effective cooperation, the objectives, and finally the institutional forms of financial co-operation. The general conclusion reached is that the proposals to date raise more questions than they answer.  Not only is the need for any such institution debatable, given the lack of any systemic economic trends during the 1970s and early 1980s, but more importantly it is also unclear whether the mutuality of economic interests among the Group of 77 is as pronounced as the proposals normally assume.

JEL: F36, G23, O16