Over the period, without adding much to the stock of external debt, there has been a quantum jump in forex reserves. This position needs to be contrasted with the 1980s, when external debt, especially short term debt, mounted while the forex reserves got depleted.
5 References Bender, Stefan, Christian Hirsch, Robert Kirchner, Olympia Bover, Manuel Ortega, Giovanni D’Alessio, Luís Teles Dias, Paulo Guimarães, Renaud Lacroix, Michael Lyon and Emily Witt (2018). INEXDA - the Granular Data Network. IFC Working Paper No 18. Basel. Biancotti, Claudia, Robert Kirchner, Francois Mouriaux, Alfonso Rosolia and Giovanni Veronese (2021). COVID-19 and Official Statistics: A Wake-up Call? Banca d’Italia Occasional Paper No 605.