VIENTIANE, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Lao government has learnt about good practices for enhancing public debt management from a high-level policy dialogue, which will help the government strengthen public debt management.
The two-day dialogue was held by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in partnership with the Lao Ministry of Finance in the Lao capital Vientiane from Oct. 4 to Oct. 5, the Lao Economic Daily reported on Monday.
The dialogue focused on identifying interconnections between public debt management and fiscal, monetary, and financial policies to help develop a whole-of-government approach to strengthen public debt management.
Drawing on international and regional experiences, government officials, private sector representatives, experts, and development partners from the region and beyond reviewed lessons and made proposals for the Lao government to consider in its plans to strengthen public debt management.
The meeting provided useful suggestions to help the government revise the Public Debt Management Law and finalize its Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy, Director General of the ministry's Public Debt Management Department Soulivath Souvannachoumkham said.
The proposals made during the meeting will lead to a more sustainable path for public debt management, including moving toward a better coordinated whole-of-government approach, he said.
Soulivath stressed the need to ensure that 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, on-lending arrangements, and contingent liabilities of state-owned enterprises.
A fiscal risk assessment would be included in the Public Debt Bulletin as part of its planned expansion in coverage, he added.
According to the report, the ADB will continue to support the Ministry of Finance and other ministries and public institutions to strengthen public debt management in Laos. ■
