3.0  Institutional arrangement for debt management in Sierra Leone  Public debt management in Sierra Leone is governed mainly by the 1991 Constitution and the Loan Amendments Act of 1992 which vest the responsibility for contracting loans in the Ministry of Finance (MoF). However, the Ministry and Bank of Sierra Leone (BoSL) work closely in the execution of the debt management function, namely, loan negotiations, renegotiations, disbursement, amortizations and recording. While the MoF undertakes the policy function in terms of formulation of debt policies, strategies and implementation consistent with the macroeconomic and fiscal framework of the country, the BoSL maintains the database, prepares  2  BIS Review 79/2006  the foreign exchange cash flow budget, including debt service obligations. This framework has contributed significantly to improving debt management in the country. We will strive to improve on it. Indeed, the framework enhances coordination of the debt management function by the appropriate authorities. Ladies and Gentlemen, Like most developing countries, Sierra Leone has been facing a number of problems, particularly those relating to maintenance of quality debt data. These include inadequate resourcing of statistics generating units; low priority attached to data collection; and inefficient institutional arrangements for data collection, processing and dissemination. Others include gaps in data recording; and gaps in debt recording systems. I am glad to inform you that the present administration has moved consistently and decisively to up-scale general economic and financial data quality by strengthening data information flows both in BoSL and MoF and at the Central Office of Statistics.

J D Rogers: Debt reporting in Sierra Leone Keynote address by Dr J D Rogers, Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone, at the opening ceremony of the WAIFEM Regional Course on Debt Reporting and the IMF/World Bank Debt Compilers Guide, at the Bank of Sierra Leone recreational complex, Kingtom, 7 August 2006. *  *  *  Director General, West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Officials of the Commonwealth Secretariat & The International Monetary Fund (IMF), Distinguished Guests, Course Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen. 1.0  Introduction  On behalf of the President, His Excellency, Alhaji Dr. Ahmad Tejan Kabba, the Government and people of the Republic of Sierra Leone, I am pleased to bid you all a warm welcome to Freetown. Let me start by expressing our sincere thanks and appreciation to the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), the Commonwealth Secretariat (COMSEC) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for choosing Sierra Leone as the venue for this Regional Course on Debt Reporting and the IMF/World Bank Debt Compilers Guide. The theme of the course is relevant and timely. Let me thank the organizers of the course for this initiative which would go a long way to strengthening overall debt management capacity in the sub-region. Ladies and Gentlemen, 2.0  Principles for compilation of gross external debt position  The need for comprehensive, comparable, and reliable data on external debt for informed decisions by policymakers, financial markets and other users of economic statistics cannot be over stressed.