Commonwealth Secretariat introduces new sovereign debt recording & management system

Comprehensive debt database and accurate statistics are important for enhancing transparency and accountability of public debt management operations. In addition, the availability of accurate debt data provides a platform for effective and efficient debt management operations. In recognition of this, MEFMI has continued to collaborate with developers of debt recording and management systems namely, UNCTAD and Commonwealth Secretariat (COMSEC), in building capacity of member countries on debt database management.

The system developers have continued to enhance and update the systems to ensure that they are in line with developments in the debt management landscape while also addressing the users’ needs. It is against this background that the COMSEC has developed a new debt management system known as Commonwealth Meridian, which incorporates advanced and improved functionalities to better address emerging debt management issues whilst also taking advantage of the latest state of the art technologies. The new web-based system caters for more instrument types and offers a comprehensive solution that promotes effective public debt management. It provides for the recording, management and analysis of public and publicly guaranteed debt, lending portfolios as well as private sector external debt. In addition, it also provides a platform for information flows between various entities involved in public debt management operations and also ensures that real data is always available through remote access.

A regional workshop aimed at introducing the Meridian system which will be rolled out by COMSEC in 2019 was conducted by MEFMI jointly with COMSEC from 21 to 25 May 2018 at Meikles Hotel in Harare, Zimbabwe. The activity was also a platform to provide feedback to COMSEC on the functionalities of the new system from the current Commonwealth Secretariat Debt Recording and Management System (CS-DRMS) which will be replaced by Meridian. This was to allow for further enhancements which will meet their specific needs before the system is rolled out.

In his opening remarks, the Director of the Debt Management Programme at MEFMI, Mr. Stanislas Nkhata commended COMSEC for being responsive to the evolving financing environment and their commitment to ensure that their systems always meets user needs.

A total of 29 participants drawn from seven (7) out of the eight (8) CS-DRMS user countries in the region attended the workshop, namely: Botswana, Lesotho, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Tanzania.