They reflect the commitment of a society to support the direction of travel and its willingness to endure the potential hardships this entails. They require democratic consensus on how to deal with negative shocks and how to allocate the associated costs.
For too long emerging market economies have managed their external liabilities so as to minimise the current borrowing cost. This shortsighted approach ignores the insurance imbedded in long-term debt, insurance that is often well worth the price.