The Euro and Developing Country Finance

Abstract

More than six years after the introduction of the euro, impacts on developing countries have been relatively modest. Overall, the euro has become much more important in debt issuance than in official foreign exchange reserve holdings. The former has benefited from the creation of a large set of investors for which the euro is the home currency, while demand for euro reserves has been held back by the dominance of the dollar as a vehicle and intervention currency, and the greater liquidity of the market for US treasury securities. Fears of dollar decline may fuel some shifts out of dollars into euros, however, with the potential for a period of financial instability. * I am grateful to Mansoor Dailami and Gabriele Galati for comments and discussion. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the World Bank Group or its Executive Directors.