While there is a strong case for considering international best practices, to the extent they exist and are perceivable, there are several reasons to be circumspect about the role of standards and codes as primary instruments of enhancing international financial stability. The recent efforts have focussed on measures mainly designed to discipline debtor countries.
While it is conceded that all the reforms that are being prescribed have their merits, there is an overriding presumption in the prescriptions that the causes of the crisis rests primarily with policy and institutional weaknesses in the debtor countries and hence place the onus of responsibility of reform on the debtors.