Government of Zambia takes steps to centralise its public debt database

The Government of Zambia is taking steps to centralise its debt database in an effort to enhance monitoring and efficiency in the management of the country’s public debt portfolio.  Prior to this, Zambia’s public domestic and external debt was kept in separate databases, namely, the Central Securities Depository (CSD) and the Debt Management and Financial Analysis System (DMFAS), respectively. Workarounds to integrate the database for reporting and analyses proved slow and entailed double entry of data, which increased operational risk. As a result, a complete picture of a country’s debt has been difficult to obtain. A centralised database enables a holistic approach to debt management, and facilitates more comprehensive analysis of a country’s entire public debt portfolio.

As part of this endeavour, a joint MEFMI/UNCTAD team visited Zambia during the period 10 – 14 February 2020 to support creation of a centralised public debt database Workarounds. The mission focused on assisting government officials register all active government domestic debt securities in DMFAS, a system used to record and report public sector debt. The key output of the mission was a consolidated central government debt database, composed of both local currency issued government securities, and debt owed to non-residents (or external debt). DMFAS has therefore become the central hub for accessing government debt statistics, enabling the debt office to take an integrated approach to managing government debt portfolio.

In addition, capacity of government officials to register domestic debt securities in a centralised debt database was built, as demonstrated by successful registration of most active securities in DMFAS. Going forward, the trained officials are expected to regularly update the database.

The next step is for the government to facilitate recording of other domestic debt instruments that are currently not part of the DMFAS, such as commercial loans owed to resident commercial banks and debt of other public sector enterprises (owed to residents) that the government of Zambia guaranteed, if any.