Mr Soulivath Souvannachoumkham and Ms Emma Veve chair the closing ceremony of the meeting.

Govt gets fresh ideas on public debt management

A two-day “High-Level Policy Dialogue on Good Practices for Enhancing Public Debt Management in Laos,” conducted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in partnership with the Ministry of Finance, gave advice on a “whole-of-government” approach to public debt management.
The meeting identified the interconnections between public debt management and fiscal, monetary and financial policies.
Drawing on international and regional experiences, government officials, private sector representatives, experts, and development partners from the region and beyond reviewed lessons and made suggestions for the government to consider in its plans to improve public debt management.
“The Ministry of Finance is grateful to the ADB for having co-hosted and helped organise this very timely high-level dialogue,” the Director General of the ministry’s Public Debt Management Department, Mr Soulivath Souvannachoumkham, said.
“The experiences and lessons of other countries facing similar public debt challenges discussed during the dialogue will greatly help the government and the Ministry of Finance in particular to elaborate specific measures to enhance public debt management,” he added.
The meeting provided many useful suggestions, which would help the government revise the Public Debt Management Law and finalise its Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy, he said.
The proposals made during the meeting will lead to a more sustainable path for public debt management, including moving towards a better coordinated whole-of-government approach, he added.
Mr Soulivath stressed the need to ensure that the inevitable trade-offs between monetary, fiscal and financial policies and public debt management are identified and resolved.
He also underscored the need for more comprehensive, accurate, timely, and transparent monitoring of all public debts, guarantees, onlending arrangements, and contingent liabilities of state-owned enterprises and from public–private partnerships.
A fiscal risk assessment would be included in the Public Debt Bulletin as part of its planned expansion in coverage, he added.
The government has already taken a series of corrective actions to reduce inflation and stabilise currency exchange rates in response to the back-to-back external shocks from the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise in global inflation, which has stymied economic growth and adversely affected the public debt to gross domestic product ratio in Laos.
The Ministry of Finance has contributed to fiscal consolidation by increasing revenue collection and reducing expenditure.
ADB Deputy Director General for Southeast Asia, Ms Emma Veve, said “The high-level dialogue of the last two days has been engaging and substantive, and its outcomes provide the government with many of the key elements required for more effective public debt management.”
“The task for the government going forward is to translate the good practices identified into specific policies as soon as feasible, including by revising the Public Debt Management Law and elaborating a Medium-Term Debt Strategy,” she added.
ADB will continue to support the Ministry of Finance and other ministries and public institutions to strengthen public debt management in Laos in close consultation with other development partners, including through ongoing technical assistance projects and the new country partnership strategy, 2024–2028, scheduled for ADB Board consideration early next year.
ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members, 49 from the region.

By Times Reporters
 (Latest Update October 9, 2023)