Establishing closer contacts with private creditors, particularly at an early stage of a crisis, raises difficult issues; thus, it is not surprising that the Interim Committee has not pronounced on this point. Among the various options, I would suggest that consideration be given to asking the appropriate authorities in each creditor country to arrange for the selection of a representative of its financial community, who could be contacted in a crisis and who could provide a channel for communicating with a wide spectrum of financial institutions. BIS Review 43/1998  -6-  • • •  the integration of the poorest countries in the globalized economy. Asia should not distract us from the pressing problems of the poorest economies; the stabilization of the international monetary system; or the issue of the democratic accountability of international financial institutions, as far as the IMF is concerned. The issue of the integration of the poorest countries is, of course, already on our agenda. But, true, the attention of the world has been so focused on the Asian crisis and the need to avoid its recurrence that the immense problem of development and alleviation of poverty, particularly in Africa, seems to have been put temporarily on a back burner. This is no longer acceptable. In this context, I was particularly happy that, in drawing the lessons of an external evaluation of ESAF, the Interim Committee encouraged us to “strengthen the ability of the Fund to foster sustained growth and external viability in poor countries”.
In addition, the authorities should look into the possibility of supplementing the complex regulations with simpler and more robust indicators such as, for instance, more effective concentration limits and an upper limit for the indebtedness ratio. BIS Review 30/2008  1