MEFMI Assists Zimbabwe Develop Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy

MEFMI conducted a virtual workshop from 6 to 17 December 2021 to support the Zimbabwe Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to develop a Medium-Term Debt Management (MTDS). The MTDS aims to inform the government’s external and domestic borrowing decisions while taking into account the associated cost and risks. The workshop covered the eight (8) steps to develop an MTDS and included a practical application of the IMF/World Bank MTDS AT. During the workshop, PowerPoint presentations were complemented by practical exercises on using MS Excel to analyse cost and risk indicators of the debt portfolio. The exercises helped participants to apply the key concepts underpinning the assessment of cost and risk of debt, respectively. The main output and outcome of the workshop were a draft debt management strategy and enhanced capacity to use the IMF/World Bank MTDS AT to develop debt management strategies amongst the participants respectively. A total of 38 officials drawn from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe National Statistical Office attended the workshop. MEFMI expects the trained officials to use the skills and knowledge gained from the workshop to develop debt strategies for Zimbabwe going forward.

The workshop was facilitated by five (5) resource persons, comprising two (2) MEFMI Accredited Fellows (Mr. Lekinyi Mollel, of the Bank of Tanzania and Mr. Leonard Thotho, of the Central Bank of Kenya), one (1) Graduate Fellow (Mr. Tawedzerwa Ngundu, of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe), one (1) International Consultant (Mr. Juan Carlos Vila Nova Pardo) and MEFMI Programme Manager, Ms. Cristina Dimande.

By Cristina Dimande