Background

The call for public debt transparency has heightened in the recent past emanating from the increasing debt vulnerabilities across the globe. Public debt transparency is an essential component in ensuring responsible borrowing and lending. It also assists in ensuring that governments remain accountable to its stakeholders. Specifically, the availability of public debt information allows governments and stakeholders to accurately track the debt evolution as well as to effectively monitor and manage debt-related risks and vulnerabilities.

Despite the importance of public debt transparency, some MEFMI member countries still fall short in meeting some of the sound practice requirements, although some progress has been made in the last few years as shown in the World Bank’s Transparency Heatmap indicators.

In recognition of the vital role public debt transparency plays in effective debt management, MEFMI has, through the Phase VI Strategic Plan, identified public debt transparency as one of its strategic thrusts. To this end, as part of the strategy implementation, MEFMI jointly with the World Bank and the IMF will conduct a regional workshop on Public Debt Transparency: Compilation, Reporting, and Monitoring.

Objectives

• To raise awareness on the importance of debt transparency including the foundations of debt data compilation, reporting standards, and debt monitoring mechanisms.
• To provide a platform for participants to share and learn from experiences and good practices of peer countries.

Course Content

The workshop covers:

• Fundamentals and importance of public debt data transparency.
• The role of the back office in debt management.
• Debt data debt coverage.
• Debt portfolio analysis.
• Basics of debt reporting.
• Monitoring government debt.

Target Group

This course targets public debt management officials responsible for debt recording and reporting in central banks and ministries of finance.