Background

Governments in the sub-Saharan African region continue to grapple with financing challenges, high borrowing costs, and rollover risks amid persistently low domestic resource mobilization. The funding landscape has evolved over the past decade. Traditional sources of funding, particularly Official Development Assistance, have declined. Meanwhile, new bilateral and commercial sources have emerged, often with higher interest rates and shorter repayment periods. These changes exert additional pressure on government budgets due to increased debt service. The countries have also faced various macroeconomic and geopolitical shocks which have contributed to heightened debt vulnerabilities, thereby threatening sustainability going forward.

The increased vulnerabilities call for governments to conduct Debt Sustainability Analyses (DSAs) regularly in order to determine the appropriate levels of debt that are consistent with their development objectives while at the same time ensuring their ability to meet the current and prospective debt service requirements. This requires the strengthening of institutional capacity in member countries to undertake debt sustainability analyses. MEFMI, in collaboration with the World Bank and the IMF, will conduct a regional workshop on Debt Sustainability Analysis for Low Income Countries. The training will focus on enhancing the skills of country officials in the use of the IMF and World Bank developed Debt Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries (LIC DSF) which has been revised over the years, and is a cornerstone for assessing the risks to debt sustainability.

Objectives

i. To impart knowledge and develop skills of participants on the use of the IMF/World Bank revised LIC DSF to conduct a DSA.

Course Content

The courses cover:

i. Introduction to Debt Sustainability; ii. Macroeconomic Linkages and Debt dynamics; iii. Inputs into the Revised DSF for Low Income Countries; iv. Realism Tools in the DSF; v. Stress Tests or Shock Scenarios; vi. Debt Carrying Capacity and Thresholds; vii. Risk Signals in the DSF; viii. Use of Judgement in DSA; and ix. Final Risk Ratings in the DSF.

Target Group

This course targets middle-level officials in debt management and fiscal departments of Ministries of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, and related functions in Central Banks. The following member countries (LICs) are eligible to attend this course: Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.