Debt Management Performance Assessment

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    Debt Management Performance Assessment : Papua New Guinea
    (Washington, DC, 2010-12) World Bank
    At the request of the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG), a mission comprised of Jeff Chelsky (PRMVP, mission lead), Tomas Magnusson (BDM, consultant), Greg Horman (BDM, consultant) and Tim Bulman (EAP, country economist), visited Port Moresby between November 22nd and December 3rd to undertake a DeMPA exercise. The team met with officials from the Department of Treasury, Bank of Papua New Guinea, Department of Finance, Department of National Planning and Monitoring, State Solicitor's Office, Auditor General's Office, Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC), AUSAid, Asian Development Bank, ANZ Bank, Nambawan Super, and Bank South Pacific (BSP). This report reflects comments received from the PNG authorities in February 2011. The mission found that, in a number of areas, PNG meets or exceeds minimum DeMPA requirements. Strengths include the quality of the debt management strategy, the framework for domestic debt issuance, coordination with monetary policy, and the legal framework (except for the issuance of T-bills for which the law contains no explicit borrowing purposes). Looking ahead, the Government has expressed its intention, as part of the 2011 budget and its updated 2011 Medium-term Debt Management Strategy, to remove the nominal cap on external debt, replacing it with a cap of 30 percent of Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. The commitment to allocate a portion of excess government revenue to debt reduction will only apply when the debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds 30 percent of GDP. At the same time, the Government has reiterated its commitment to reducing the exchange rate risks to its debt portfolio by targeting 40 percent of total debt over the medium term for the external portion of the portfolio. Interest rate risk will be reduced through continued efforts to extend the maturity of domestic debt.