This paper reviews the external debt situation for the Asian LDCs; one hypothesis advanced here is that the ultimate origin of these external debts can be seen in the ‘modus operandi’ of international capital markets, hence the need arises for intensification of economic cooperation among the debtor countries. Focus here is on the outstanding features of the debt problem and an attempt is also made to identify all these structural components and other variables affecting future scenarios and alternatives open to the LDCs in the 1990s.
