BoG governor calls for publishing of DeMPA results

By Kofi Ahovi The governor of the Bank of Ghana, Kwesi Amissah–Arthur has called on member countries of West Africa Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) to publish the results of their Debt Management Performance Assessment Tool (DeMPA). According to him, publishing of the results would attract external support and resources for technical assistance. “Several governments that have undertaken DeMPAs have chosen to make the results public, which has served as a catalyst for reform and for attracting external support and resources for technical assistance in areas identified as priorities,” he explained. The governor made the call during a five-day regional training on DeMPA for Anglophone West African countries, in Accra last week. The Senior Debt Specialist from the Economic Policy and Debt Department of the World Bank, Abha Prasad, who spoke to BusinessWeek agrees with the governor, saying “the DeMPA tool is for monitoring progress, highlighting strength and weakness and for donor coordination and in that respect it is useful to put it in the public domain to be shared with member countries” “Having said that it is up to the individual country to decide whether to publish it or not, the World Bank does not compel member countries to publish their results,” she added. DeMPA was introduced in 2007 by the World Bank as part of armoury for effective debt management performance. The tool provides mechanism for assessing debt management performance in developing countries. It is based on the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) format for public financial management and sound practices in government debt management. The DeMPA is useful in conducting country dialogue, guiding the design of debt management reform programmes, enhancing donor harmonization, and monitoring performance over time. It also catalyzes inter country comparison of debt management performance in the evolution of best practices. To this end, the governor of the BoG urged the World Bank to continue its support for programmes to strengthen public debt management in developing countries and to continue the partnership arrangement with regional institutions like WAIFEM. The training course aims to provide in-depth training in the methodology and operational modalities of the tool, rationale, scope, coverage and application of the DeMPA tool and preparation of reform plans.