Delegates to analyse Commonwealth’s debt management programme

Debt management experts from across the Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth countries will meet in London, UK, on 26-27 June 2008 to discuss how to improve the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Debt Management Programme and deliberate on contemporary issues in debt management.

The forum will look at the future design of the programme, and identify ways to assist countries to help make debt analysis a home-grown process.

It will also deliberate on the future development of the Commonwealth Secretariat Debt Recording and Management System (CS-DRMS), a software package that enables countries to record and analyse their external and domestic debt flows.

Currently, 56 countries across the globe use the CS-DRMS – both within and outside the Commonwealth – for debt recording and analysis.

Available in English and French, CS-DRMS is being successfully used to effectively manage public debt, on-lending by governments, private debt and external grants and to evaluate the impact of new borrowings in a scientific manner.

Some 100 participants – leading debt management officers and CS-DRMS users – will attend the meeting, which will take place at Marlborough House.

Representatives from non-Commonwealth countries using the software, as well as collaborating partners from international agencies like the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and other regional organisations will also attend.

Gilpin Walton, Debt Management Adviser at the Commonwealth Secretariat, says the meeting is intended to deliberate on global debt management issues in order to improve the quality of debt management services provided to member countries.

“Over the past two decades, the contribution from our clientele has been invaluable in reshaping the form of our service delivery,” he said.

“The increasing demand for our services is clearly on analytical issues of sovereign debt management with the recent trend of greater access to market borrowings by developing countries.”

Key Links:

• Debt Management