ABSTRACT
Comecon had, according to the latest statistics of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) (Table 1), at the end of 1984 an outstanding gross debt towards the western world of about 82 billion US-dollars. This substantial sum means that the countries forming the Comecon have been important borrowers from western financial sources. It is, therefore, certainly of interest to analyze in somewhat more detail this debt and its structure. The current debt has its origin basically in the cumulative negative trade balance that started to develop when east-west trade began to achieve some momentum in the late sixties and early seventies. The current account deficits that have developed alongside over the years have to be added to this negative trade balance.
