Credit rating agencies play a pivotal role in shaping global financial markets by providing an opinion on the creditworthiness of sovereign and corporate borrowers. For developing countries, these ratings carry significant weight, often influencing investor confidence, borrowing costs and access to international capital markets, as well as, at times, serving as a proxy for good governance.
UNCTAD has suggested that empowering countries to communicate directly to investors and markets through regular and reliable data, such as through the UNCTAD Debt Management and Financial Analysis System, together with a narrative based on national strategies, can help bridge information gaps.
Discussions at this event will explore how developing countries can foster more transparent and accountable relationships with markets, credit rating agencies and the public; and aim to clarify roles and responsibilities in setting out ways to enrich the quality and regularity of information and the effectiveness of communications strategies provided by developing countries.
Programme
High-level panel and interactive discussion
Questions:
- Which mechanisms exist, or should exist, to facilitate better communications between developing countries and key stakeholders?
- How can developing countries bridge the information and communications gap and provide a long-term development narrative?
- What kind of information should developing countries regularly provide in order to build trust with markets?
- What role can the United Nations play in supporting better engagement between developing countries, markets, credit rating agencies and the public?
Speakers:
- Bodo Ellmers, Managing Director, Global Policy Forum Europe
- Ugo Panizza, Professor of Economics, Geneva Graduate Institute
- Lucas Tasquetto, General-Coordinator for Trade Policies, Ministry of Finance of Brazil
- Lucie Villa, Senior Vice President, Sovereign Risk Group, Moody’s Investors Service
Moderator:
- Penelope Hawkins, OiC, Debt and Development Finance Branch, (UNCTAD)
Bodo Ellmers is currently Managing Director and Director of the Financing for Development and International Financial Architecture Programme at Global Policy Forum Europe. He represents the organization in several international NGO networks, and is recognized for his expertise on reform processes at the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Before joining Global Policy Forum Europe, he worked for the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) in Brussels for eleven years, most recently as Head of Policy. During this period, he participated in UNCTAD expert groups, represented civil society organizations in the OECD Working Party on Aid Effectiveness, coordinated advocacy at the International Monetary Fund and advised the UN General Assembly on debt crisis resolution.
Earlier in his career, he served as Policy Advisor for the German branch of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty and worked as a consultant for the UN Millennium Campaign, VENRO, CONCORD and WEED.
He holds degrees in economics and political science from the Free University of Berlin.
Penelope Hawkins is the acting head of the Debt and Development Finance Branch at UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Previusly, as founder and managing director of Feasibility (Pty) Ltd, she has undertaken some of the leading research projects in the financial sector in Southern Africa, commissioned by regulators, policymakers, and the private sector.
She researches and engages with member country representatives and the broader civil and academic society on sovereign debt, financing for development, illicit financial flows, and financial inclusion.
She is a published economist, with a Ph.D. in economics from Stirling University, Scotland. She has an M.A. in economics (cum laude) from the University of South Africa and a B.A. in economics (honours), a higher diploma in education (cum laude) and a B.Sc., all from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Ugo Panizza is currently Professor of International Economics and Pictet Chair in Finance and Development at the Geneva Graduate Institute, where he also serves as Deputy Director of the Centre for Finance and Development.
He is Director of the International Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies (ICMB), Vice President and Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Fellow of the Fondazione Einaudi, and Editor-in-Chief of International Development Policy. His work focuses on international finance, sovereign debt, banking, and political economy, with a particular interest in the challenges faced by developing countries.
Before joining the Institute, he served as Chief of the Debt and Finance Analysis Unit at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), contributing to research and policy work on debt sustainability and development finance.
He previously worked at the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank and held teaching and research positions at the American University of Beirut and the University of Turin.
He holds a PhD in Economics from the Johns Hopkins University.
Lucas Tasquetto is currently the General-Coordinator for Trade Policies at the Ministry of Finance of Brazil.
Before that, he was a coordinator at the Undersecretariat for Sustainable Development Finance at the Secretariat of International Affairs, working at the Brazilian presidency of the G20's Sustainable Finance Working Group (SFWG) and the Task Force for the Global Mobilization against Climate Change.
He is a professor of International Relations at the Federal University of ABC (São Paulo, Brazil). His work focused mainly on trade governance, international institutions and digital technologies.
He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of São Paulo and a master's degree in Law from the Federal University of Santa Catarina.
He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and held research positions at the King's College London and at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas School of Economics.
Lucie Villa is the lead analyst for several Sub-Saharan African sovereigns and supranational issuers and is a senior member of Moody’s Africa Sovereign Ratings team. Prior to January 2015, Lucie Villa covered a variety of advanced and emerging market European sovereign credits, having joined the Sovereign Risk Group in early 2011 from Moody’s Sub-Sovereign Group.
Prior to joining Moody’s in 2007, Lucie Villa spent two years at the French Ministry of Finance in the Forecast division, responsible for projections and analyses of France’s government finances.
Lucie Villa holds a postgraduate degree in Probability and Statistics from a French Engineering School (ENSAI) and a Master’s degree in Economics from the Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris.
