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MEFMI and UNCTAD Build Capacity of the Ministry of Finance in Zambia on DMFAS

  • September 28, 2022
  • Posted by: admin
  • Category: debt management
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At the request of the Ministry of Finance in Zambia, MEFMI collaborated with United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to conduct a technical assistance mission on debt database management from 11 to 15 July 2022. In 2020, Zambia received debt relief under the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), which provides for a postponement of debt service payments by low and lower-middle-income countries. The DSSI aimed to provide temporary relief to ease the financing constraints and shift public financial resources from debt service towards mitigating the human and economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis. As the DSSI alters the debt service schedules of existing loans, it is important to record the debt relief transactions in the debt management system to ensure consistent and accurate debt statistics.

It is against this background that the Ministry of Finance in Zambia requested UNCTAD for technical assistance to implement the DSSI terms in the Debt Management and Financial Analysis System (DMFAS). MEFMI collaborated with UNCTAD to deliver the technical assistance as part of the partnership between the two institutions.

 

The mission carried out several activities to achieve its objectives. It trained officials of the Investment and Debt Management Department in the Ministry of Finance on the use of DFMAS to implement the DSSI reorganisation terms. The mission also held discussions with the Bank of Zambia and Ministry of Finance officials on the use of DMFAS for recording domestic debt securities and private sector debt.

The main output of the mission was the enhanced capacity of the Ministry of Finance officials to implement debt reorganisation in DMFAS. MEFMI expects the trained participants to use the knowledge gained from the mission to implement the DSSI in the DMFAS.

The mission team comprised Mr. Gabor Piski (Team leader) of the UNCTAD DMFAS Programme and Ms. Josephine Tito of the MEFMI Secretariat.

 

Prepared by Josephine Tito