BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE – Debt Free!
Senior officials from Eastern and Southern Africa have received hands-on training to manage their public debt using the Commonwealth’s new debt management system.
The Commonwealth Secretariat facilitated the training in Mozambique from 12 to 16 December in partnership with the Macro economic and Financial Management Institute for Eastern and Southern Africa.
This was done to equip 25 officials from eight countries in recording, analysing and reporting debt data using the new debt management system, Commonwealth Meridian.
Officials from ministries of finance and central banks benefited from the five-day programme for transitioning to Commonwealth Meridian and learnt how to use the webbased software tomonitor compliancewith debt strategies, mitigate operational risks and uphold data integrity.
Debt officials from the country, Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia and Tanzania which recently migrated to Commonwealth Meridian also spoke about the benefits of using the new software and ways to mitigate the post-transition challenges.
Opening the training, Domingos Lambo, Permanent Secretary of Mozambique’s Ministry Of Economy and Finance, said the workshop comes at a time when the world is grapplingwithmultiple challenges, adding:
“These developments have heightened public debts in many developing countries.
“The knowledge and skills you gain from this training will help you maintain comprehensive, accurate and timely public debt databases in your countries, as this is a prerequisite for efficient debt management operations.” he said.
