The Public Debt Division of the Ministry of Finance, Monday 29th July 2024, commenced its Annual Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) report writing exercise workshop.
The event was held at Leisure Lodge 30, off Cape Road Aberdeen Beach in Freetown.
The Director of the Public Debt Division, Matthew Sandy, in his opening statement, said debt sustainability analysis is an annual requirement to assess Sierra Leone’s level of debt accumulation and risk of debt distress rating in the medium to long term.
It is meant to provide appropriate policy advice to the government on the status of its borrowing, he said.
He added that the exercise was to update the National Debt Sustainability Analysis from medium to long-term projections of the debt stock, and long-run projection of fiscal and macro-economic fundamentals.
“This year’s workshop is different because they are using the rebased GDP, noting that GDP is expected to grow around 4%, which indicates that three of the four indicators have improved” .
Mr Sandy further stated that if the country could improve the debt service to revenue ratio, it would return to a low-risk of debt distress.
Director Sandy explained that Sierra Leone in the global ranking is not only debt distress, but debt distress forward-looking sustainable on one indicator.
He further said that the World Bank had provided technical training in conducting detailed reporting and analysis on debt issues.
A representative from the National Revenue Authority (NRA), Abdulrahim Bangura, said that the authority had been meeting its target in revenue mobilization.
He continued by saying that the authority would continue to improve on the collection of revenue and would even try to surpass the stated threshold.
“This workshop attracted Civil Society, Representatives from USL, and other MDAs,” officials at finance told Africa 24.
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