The Africa Debt Monitor

Posted by Danielle Serebro (Collaborative Africa Budget Support Initiative (CABRI), Pretoria, South Africa) for the Public Financial Management Blog

Public debt transparency depends on three key conditions: (i) effective recording, (ii) an extensive reporting function, and (iii) a willingness to share debt-related information (UNCTAD, 2018). Anomalous cases, such as Mozambique, where “off-book” loans were contracted to purchase fishing vessels and military equipment, and Zambia, which is suspected of hiding substantial external debt, have contributed to a general perception that African countries are unwilling to share their debt data and do not meet the third condition of debt transparency.

CABRI, through its Africa Debt Monitor (ADM), a platform for peer-exchange on African central government debt, has learnt that this general perception is false. More than half of the countries approached to participate in the ADM voluntarily completed an extensive three-part survey covering domestic- and foreign-currency debt, risk benchmarks and contingent liabilities, and cash- and debt-management institutional arrangements, policies and practices.

What seems to matter for governments is that they have a say in how their data is collected and used, and that data collection exercises result in insights and tools they find relevant and useful. The ADM was developed by CABRI in consultation with African debt management offices (DMOs) and provides the type of debt-related information that officials consider a prerequisite for making informed decisions and promoting debt sustainability. It features multiple tools that include (i) individual country debt profiles; (ii) cross-country comparisons of debt management practices and procedures; (iii) individual country data tables; and (iv) the Debt Data Explorer. These tools facilitate peer-learning and inter-country exchanges on debt management.

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