MULTIVARIATE AND MULTICRITERIAL FOREIGN DEBT ANALYSIS OF THE SELECTED TRANSITION ECONOMIES

Abstract

There is a constant evidence of the growth of the foreign indebtedness in all the countries in transition, both EU member states and (pre)accession countries. Status and trends of external debt are important indicators of potential macroeconomic problems, which determines that the management of foreign debt should be a task for all governments. Thus, methodology and measurement of foreign indebtedness is crucial for these countries. The aim of the paper is to classify, using multivariate cluster analysis, ten chosen countries in transition (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Slovenia) according to the key indicators of the state and trends of foreign indebtedness. In addition, ranking of those countries will be done in relation to the indebtedness indicators by the multicriteria analysis method. Comparative analysis of the results will be done. The advantage of these approaches is reflected in the fact that the analysis, classification and ranking can be done for all countries, based on all indicators of external indebtedness at the same time.

Keywords

• Multivariate analysis
• Multicriterial analysis
• Foreign debt
• Transition countries