DFI was chosen by the Omani government through competitive bidding to deploy Meridian at Oman’s Debt Management Office. The project included computerising external and domestic direct government and government-guaranteed debt. The debt databases were implemented from scratch using Excel data entry sheets and manual entry or automatic upload into Meridian. DFI and the Commonwealth Secretariat also worked together to enhance Meridian’s treatment of Islamic loan products. In three workshops, DMO staff were trained on interpreting loan and credit agreements, and intermediate and advanced use of Meridian. DMO is now seeking to expand use of Meridian in Oman by linking to its Integrated Financial Management Information System.

DFI and Norwegian Church Aid launched a new report on how to solve the new debt crisis, at the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings. The report shows that the crisis is widespread, affecting 114 countries, and concentrated in those countries accessing capital markets (not in former HIPCs). Debt service is far higher than spending on education, health, social protection and climate. Debt to domestic and multilateral creditors are key components in many countries, and will need to be restructured. The report analyses in detail the lessons of past debt relief initiatives, and makes 10 sets of recommendations to ensure that debt relief is: provided to all types of countries, based on their SDG financing needs, negotiated rapidly, including all necessary creditors, and providing protection against lawsuits. In addition, it recommends measures to avoid future crises by maximising accountability to domestic stakeholders; protecting against future predatory and corrupt debts; building country negotiating capacity; and providing lower-cost development financing.

DRI and Oxfam launched the 2022 Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) report, the first detailed analysis of 161 governments’ actions to fight inequality during COVID-19. COVID has increased inequality worldwide, with the poorest hit hardest by the disease and its economic impacts. CRI 2022 shows clearly that most of the world’s governments failed to mitigate this dangerous rise in inequality. Half of lower-income countries saw health spending fall as a % of their budgets, half of countries cut the % of social protection spending, three quarters cut the % of education spending. In addition, two-thirds failed to increase minimum wages in line with GDP, and 95% failed to increase taxes on the richest people and corporations. Only a small group of governments bucked this trend, taking clear actions to combat inequality, putting the rest of the world to shame. For the English report and database, see here. For other language versions of the report, here.

This project, funded by the African Development Bank, was the first to be implemented by DFI as exclusive distributor for Meridian. Its main objectives were to install Meridian, migrate the debt database from CS-DRMS and train Somali debt managers to record, manage and report on their debt portfolio. The new database was drawn from CS-DRMS records and loan balances reconciled with creditors for the 2020 Paris Club exercise. Following two training courses held in Nairobi, DMU staff are using Meridian on the Ministry of Finance’s cloud space, to administer their portfolio and regularly produce a quarterly debt bulletin – one of the pre-conditions for HIPC Completion Point which Somalia reached in December 2023, with total debt savings of $4.5 billion.

Bhutan has been using CS-DRMS since 2005. The project, funded by the Asian Development Bank, aimed to install Meridian in the Development Coordination and Debt Management Division of the Ministry of Finance, migrate the debt database and train users in the use of Meridian. The debt database (comprising external and domestic debt, on-lent loans and grants) was migrated, two training workshops (covering intermediate and advanced use of Meridian) were organised in Thimphu, and a study tour was organised to the Maldives to expose Bhutanese officials to a Meridian site already in operation. Various customised reports were also written for Bhutan’s reporting according to national legislation. At final reconciliation stage, it was discovered that some of Bhutan’s multi-currency loans from a multilateral creditor had not been entered into CS-DRMS according to standard methodology. Work is currently being completed on finalising their re-entry and validation.

This project was funded by the African Development Bank, and due to a funding disbursement deadline was completed in 4 months. Its main objective was to install Meridian, migrate the debt database from CS-DRMS and ensure that staff of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning can use the new system to manage Liberia’s debt reporting needs. The project was underpinned by two skills transfer and capacity building workshops (each two weeks long) for 15 participants. Although the project was successfully completed, the short implementation period meant that the project recommended continued further capacity-building efforts in a second phase, including extending the database to cover domestic debt, reinforcing staff capacity of staff and strengthening MFDP IT infrastructure.

DFI has renewed its partnership with the World Bank and IMF to implement the Debt Management Facility, which began in 2008. The DMF provides advisory services, training and peer-to-peer learning to more than 80 developing countries around the world to strengthen their debt management capacity, processes, and institutions. DFI participates in workshops and missions to support the implementation of the programme, on such issues as Debt Management Performance Assessments (DeMPA), Debt Sustainability Analysis, Medium-Term Debt Strategies, design of Debt Management Reform Plans, and development of domestic debt markets. Since 2008, DFI has participated in more than 73 missions and workshops. For more details, see the DMF website.

DFI and Oxfam International launched the third edition of the CRI, measuring government commitment to policies which reduce inequality. The key findings of the report are that the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across a world unprepared to fight it, because countries failed to fight inequality. Only one in six countries are spending enough on health, only a third of the global workforce has adequate social protection, and in over 100 countries one in three workers had no labour protection. As a result, many have faced death and destitution, and inequality is increasing dramatically. The report recommends that all governments adopt strong anti-inequality policies on public services, tax and labour rights, to radically reduce the gap between rich and poor. The international community must support them with SDRs, debt relief and global solidarity taxes.

Des hauts fonctionnaires de 12 pays à faible revenu et à revenu intermédiaire de l'OIF et de 4 organisations régionales, ainsi que des représentants de parlementaires francophones et d'organisations de la société civile, ont tenu un atelier à Kigali du 10 au 13 décembre pour discuter des problèmes d'endettement de leur pays et identifier des actions urgentes de plaidoyer et de renforcement des capacités étapes pour les réduire. L'atelier a été organisé par le gouvernement du Rwanda et facilité par DFI et l'OIF, avec la contribution d'Afrodad, Cleary Gottlieb, du Secrétariat du Commonwealth, d'Eurodad, du FMI, de la CNUCED et de la Banque mondiale. L'atelier a identifié les principaux besoins prioritaires des pays en matière de conception de politiques et de stratégies d’endettement ; transparence et responsabilité ; mobiliser de nouveaux financements extérieurs ; emprunts sur le marché intérieur et régional ; et restructuration et renégociation de la dette. Ces besoins seront communiqués à toutes les organisations participantes à un niveau supérieur pour garantir que les pays francophones bénéficient d'une assistance maximale. Les participants ont également convenu d'une série de points de plaidoyer sur les changements nécessaires dans le système international pour les aider à éviter ou à résoudre la crise de la dette, qui seront discutés avec les dirigeants mondiaux en 2020.

DFI et Oxfam se sont rencontrés à La Haye pour convenir d'un programme de travail de trois ans pour l'indice d'engagement à réduire les inégalités, afin de produire les livrables nécessaires dans le cadre de la subvention de l'Open Society Foundation et dans le cadre de leur partenariat conjoint. Nous avons discuté de l'amélioration et de l'élargissement de la méthodologie pour compiler et analyser le ERI ; ainsi que des indicateurs de performance clés aux niveaux mondial, régional et national, et une amélioration des communications et des efforts de collecte de fonds. Les résultats de la réunion seront rassemblés dans un plan stratégique au début de 2020.