The event brings together public debt managers as well as members of the international community involved in sovereign debt management capacity building and advisory services, to discuss recent trends and developments, to network with a broad range of peers, and to gain insights to support ongoing efforts to improve policy and practices. The World Bank Treasury hosts the Sovereign Debt Management Forum, every two years as part of its capacity building and outreach program.

Theoretical presentations and country cases illustrate the different stages of developing a debt management strategy. Hands-on exercises focus on quantitative tools necessary to support debt management decisions such as calculating risk indicators and scenario analysis to compute cost/risk tradeoffs. Participants present the framework for debt management strategy in their respective countries to their peers. The course is targeted at finance ministry technical and management-level staff involved in policy analysis and policy making in debt management and is by invitation only.

Participants also explore techniques to alter the existing portfolio structure, such as swap operations, exchange offers and buyback programs. The course combines theoretical presentations and case studies to illustrate an overview of the processes and procedures for transaction execution. The course is targeted at central bank and finance ministry technical and management-level staff involved in market transaction and policy making and is by invitation only.

Past participants have found that despite of significant differences in members’ retail products and markets, there are striking similarities in the problems and opportunities each of them faces. The symposium -a sponsored event of the International Retail Debt Management Conference (IRDMC)- is chaired by the US Treasury and hosted by The World Bank Treasury. Core IRDMC membership includes Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.