Promoting International Sound Practices in Public Debt Management The Secretariat’s public debt management programme implemented by the Debt Management Unit supports member countries efforts to effectively manage the country’s debt portfolio.  A government’s debt portfolio is usually the largest financial portfolio in the country.  It often contains complex structures that create substantial cost and  risk for the government and is critical to the country’s financial stability.  Prudent government debt management has critical linkages to a country’s development process and long-term debt sustainability.  It reduces the financial risk the government faces, lowers the economy’s vulnerability to financial shocks, strengthens the market infrastructure and institutions needed to support an efficient domestic financial market, and helps foster sound public sector governance practices.

The Commonwealth Secretariat Strategic Plan 2017/18- 2020/21 builds on the previous Strategic Plan and continues to prioritize the debt management programme with an intermediate outcome of more inclusive economic growth and sustainable development and short term outcome of national frameworks facilitate effective debt management.

Several Commonwealth member countries are characterised by unsustainable debt levels, weak institutional and underdeveloped  frameworks  that govern public debt management.  In addition, there is constant need to strengthen knowledge in the area of public debt management especially in light of the high staff turnover in some debt offices and the changing global developments in debt issues.  These problems inhibit economic growth in many member countries which is exacerbated by  weak growth which debilitates the ability of the government to provide key social services to its citizens such as education, health care, poverty alleviation and infrastructure development. 

The debt management programme will continue supporting countries to manage their public debt portfolios through the provision of computerized debt management information systems, the Commonwealth Secretariat Debt Recording and Management System (CS-DRMS), the Commonwealth Secretariat Securities Auction System.  Going forward, it is projected that the newly developed system Commonwealth Meridian will replace CS-DRMS.  The timeline to support both systems concurrently is up to end budget year 2021/22.  The plan is to deploy Commonwealth Meridian in 12 countries per year.


The debt management programme will support the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in particular SDG 17, especially in respect of targets (i) mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources and (ii) assist developing countries in attaining long-term debt sustainability through coordinated policies aimed at fostering debt financing, debt relief and debt restructuring, as appropriate, and address the external debt of highly indebted poor countries to reduce debt distress.

The project will address the problems highlighted above by:

1.	Providing technical assistance in strengthening and modernizing the public debt management legal framework in member countries to support sound debt management practices;
2.	Strengthening capacity in public debt management including through the innovative tool of e-learning;
3.	Promoting the development of a deep and liquid domestic market to reduce cost and risk on public debt portfolio;
4.	Developing a framework for the management of contingent liabilities in order to mitigate the growth of future debt liabilities and to improve member countries resilience to these liabilities;
5.	Developing a debt data quality assessment index for member countries which facilitates provision of targeted technical assistance to promote high quality, comprehensive, and reliable debt data to support policy makers and other key stakeholders to make informed decisions regarding the country’s debt portfolio; 
6.	Maximise effective use of the Secretariat’s Debt Management Systems;
7.	Provision of Public Debt Management System(s) that meet the objectives of modern debt management offices;
8.	Implementing the Debt Management Facility (DMF) programme, thereby providing technical assistance to member countries in several areas of debt management such as (i)development of medium-term debt management strategies to minimize the debt servicing cost and risks in the country’s debt portfolio (ii) strengthening of capacity in debt sustainability framework and (iii) designing of reform plans. 

Successful completion of this project will help member states in:

1.	Consolidating fragmented legal framework that governs debt management to limit potential abuse of power and establish accountabilities for managing the government’s debt portfolio;
2.	Increasing knowledge in public debt management thereby equipping debt managers with sound principles when informing policy makers on debt management issues;
3.	Developing and diversifying financial markets thereby enhancing efficiencies in the domestic market, that will result in costs savings and risk reduction on public debt portfolio, facilitate improved access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises and households and eventually promote economic growth;
4.	Reducing vulnerability to the effect of contingent liabilities which should improve economic resilience and provide a more effective means of managing debt;
5.	Improving significantly  the quality of data reported to the World Bank, the IMF and other key stakeholders; 
6.	Foster partnerships to better train and support member countries and provide member countries with the skills and knowledge to more effectively use the Secretariats debt management systems to manage their debt portfolios; and
7.	Participation in the Debt Management Facility – Partnership with World Bank.


The project will support 44 member countries from the regions of Africa, Asia, Caribbean and the Pacific.