AFDC and World Bank collaborates to organize Debt Management Performance Assessment (DeMPA) Tool Training in Shanghai
Debt Management Performance Assessment (DeMPA) Tool Training, co-sponsored by the Economic Policy and Debt Department of the World Bank and the Asia-Pacific Finance and Development Center (AFDC) is held from November 7-11, 2011 at the campus of Shanghai National Accounting Institute.
Due to weak debt management capacity and lack of efficient debt markets, developing countries face various policy, institutional, and operational challenges. The DeMPA is a diagnostic tool that helps to evaluate these deficiencies, as it can provide an internationally recognized methodology for assessing debt management functions and performance based on sound practices in government debt management. It is in this context that AFDC collaborates with the World Bank to hold such a training course.
About 30 participants from 17 Asian developing countries with mid-to-senior level positions from Ministries of Finance and central banks that work on debt management attend the five-day training. Dr. Li Kouqing, Deputy Director General of the AFDC, and Ms. Abha Prasad, senior debt specialist at the Economic Policy and Debt Department of the World Bank delivered opening remarks on behalf of the co-organizers of the training at the opening ceremony on November 7.
The course is presided over by Ms. Abha Prasad from beginning to the end. She and two of her Bank colleagues, Mr. Lars Jessen, lead financial officer at the Sovereign Debt Banking and Debt Department of the World Bank Treasury, and Mr. Thordur Jonasson, debt management expert and consultant of the World Bank are the main instructors for the course. Besides the presentations from three Bank experts, the course also includes several hands-on country case studies with discussions on operational application.
There is also a one-day module on designing debt management reform plans in actual country experiences, aiming to alleviate the weaknesses identified and analyzed by the DeMPA. It will also enable participants to learn in detail about expected outputs and outcomes, actions, sequencing and milestones, and provide estimates of the budget and resources required to implement the plan.
This is the second joint training event after the successful completion of the sub-national training course held between the AFDC and the World Bank in December 2010 in Shanghai. More collaboration on this issue will be conducted between the two sides in the future.
