The fifth step in the sequence, Step 5: The Solvency Signal, is fundamentally outward facing. By securitising the massive Ways and Means advances, the government signalled a return to orthodox debt management. The sequencing here is paramount: international creditors and rating agencies would never have believed this solvency signal if the petrol subsidy (Step 1) and multiple exchange rates (Step 2) were still draining the treasury. Domestic house-cleaning had to precede external debt rebalancing. However, the resulting high-interest-rate environment compounds the pain for a domestic real sector still waiting for the delayed social and economic buffers. [...]