Although many big emerging markets have built up foreign-exchange reserves and cut their external debts, in eastern Europe reserves have been flat, external debts have risen and current- account deficits have grown considerably in the past decade.

ECONOMIST: Globalisation

The improvement in ratings is underpinned by emerging-market governments' strong external balance-sheets (record levels of foreign-exchange reserves and falling external debt ratios).

ECONOMIST: Country risk ratings

Foreign central banks financed the remainder of our external deficit by also piling up dollar reserves.

FORBES: No Greenback Crash

They wanted the U.S. to do more than it was doing to correct its external imbalance and they showed an interest in actually cashing in their excess dollar reserves for gold.

FORBES: Currency Manipulation

That manipulated, pegged, or fixed-rate system worked well in the early postwar years when there was apparently an unlimited demand for dollar reserves, which we were happy to provide to the world in the form of external deficits.

FORBES: Currency Manipulation