This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate.The purpose of this paper is to study the origins of banking crises in sub-Saharan Africa, drawing upon the experience of ten countries during the period 1985-95. It examines, in particular, which factors were the most important sources of these crises. The conclusions underscore that the banking crises examined did not represent an entirely special case-a number of factors identified in the general literature, including macroeconomic shocks, were highly relevant-but note that several of their features were nonetheless specific to this part of the world. These banking crises were the very prototype of endemic crises associated with heavy government intervention in the banking system. In this regard, the paper analyzes the complex role of the government in banking in sub-Saharan Africa, the many channels through which governments intervened, and the economic and institutional environment in which the banks operated. JEL Classification Numbers: E6, G18, G21

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Five of the most important currencies compose the SDR, the currency cocktail which is. at the base of the International Monetary System. Violent swings on the foreign exchange markets and greatest uncertainty of interest rates plead for a more frequent use of currency cocktails international operators. Both the Ecu and the SDR should have been more present in international finance. This article presents and analyses two international transactions in which the SDR was selected as unit of account: the first one is a syndicated loan to the Kingdom of Sweden and the second one a syndicated loan to the Republic of the Ivory Coast. A comparison of the two credits is presented and their differences are exposed. The author concludes that the SDR could be, in practice, very different from a private transaction to the next. Additional clauses are required when a currency cocktail is selected for a euro-credit : the definition of the SDR, the definition of the dollar-value of the SDR, the difficulty of the calculation of the interest rates, the problems of foreign exchange quotations make additional clauses necessary. As a consequence, the documentation of a SDR credit is more complex than in the case of a classic US dollar facility