MEFMI trains officials on performance audit of public debt

Over the past decade, there has been a rapid accumulation of public debt in most developing countries. This could mainly be attributed to the increase in borrowing to finance infrastructure projects and other priority areas such as social spending in education and health among others. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic further increased borrowing requirements, thereby elevating debt and related vulnerabilities. The World Bank International Debt Statistics report for 2022 shows that Sub-Saharan African countries recorded, at 10.7 per cent on average, the highest increase in external debt stocks in 2020. In addition, high interest rates have made borrowing more expensive, especially in foreign currencies and at short maturities.

To manage the debt and related vulnerabilities, there is a need for Governments to adopt sound debt management strategies as well as enhance transparency and accountability in the use of the borrowed resources. The latter requires enhancing the role of oversight institutions such as national assemblies, as well as external and internal audit offices. However, most countries still lag in conducting performance audits of public debt due to capacity deficiencies. To address this gap, MEFMI conducted a virtual regional training on Public Debt Audit focusing on performance audit, from 25 to 29 April 2022. Public Debt Audit is one of the focal areas of MEFMI’s Phase VI Strategic Plan (2022 – 2026).

The training was attended by 61 officials, of which 23 were female, from seven (7) of the 14 MEFMI member countries namely, Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. These were drawn from supreme audit institutions (SAIs) as well as internal audit departments in the Ministries of Finance and Planning.

The immediate outcome of the workshop was the enhanced knowledge and awareness of public debt concepts and sound practices t among the participants. MEFMI expects the trained participants to use the knowledge gained from the workshop to conduct performance audits of debt management in their respective countries, which would lead to increased transparency and accountability in the management of borrowed resources and the resultant public debt.

The workshop was facilitated by Mr. Lekinyi Mollel (MEFMI Accredited Fellow of the Bank of Tanzania), Dr Felister Kivisi (MEFMI Graduate Fellow of the Trade and Development Bank), and Ms. Josephine Tito of the MEFMI Secretariat who handled sessions on public debt management. In addition, Mr. Bonface Mukwenga of the Auditor General’s Office in Zimbabwe and Ms. Josephine Warega of the Office of the Auditor-General in Kenya presented on public debt audit.

Prepared by Josephine Tito