OREANDA-NEWS. June 25, 2015. The IMF’s East AFRITAC and the East African Community organized a public sector debt statistics workshop in Zanzibar during June 8-19 with the participation of the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The workshop focused on bringing debt statistics in East Africa in line with international standards to address the demand for reliable debt data for policy making, economic analysis, credit assessments, and the regional integration process.

The workshop provided training for some 30 officials from Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda and focused on compilation, dissemination and harmonization of public sector debt statistics. The first week of the workshop comprised training in the IMF debt statistics methodology, followed by hands-on training provided by the World Bank and the African Development Bank on data compilation and data dissemination. The workshop was part of the AFE/EAC collaborative technical assistance program improving fiscal and debt data designed to assist countries meet data requirements associated with the East African Community Monetary Union (EAMU) Protocol.

The national delegates developed work plans to produce reliable and comprehensive debt statistics in line with international standards by the end of 2017. These plans are expected to be verified and formally integrated into their respective work streams going forward.

Background

East AFRITAC, located in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is serving Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, and is one of nine regional IMF technical assistance centers around the world. It provides capacity-building assistance in core areas of expertise of the IMF such as: revenue administration; public financial management; macro-fiscal analysis; financial sector regulation; monetary policy and operations; and economic and financial statistics. Its Steering Committee, composed of the member countries, the IMF and representatives of the donors, oversees and provides guidance on the Center’s operations.