Relief, Restructuring and Recovery: Dealing with Debt in Times of Global Crisis

The Conference provides a regular biennial forum for sharing experiences and exchanging views between Governments, international organizations, academia and civil society on current developments in the debt landscape in developing countries and on debt management issues in this broader macroeconomic context.

It brings together senior-level national debt managers from around the world to discuss some of the most pertinent topics in the field today. Around 350 participants from over 100 countries, as well as senior representatives of international, regional and other institutions, participated in the last conference held in November 2019.

This year’s Conference takes place at a crucial moment of multiple global crises affecting the world economy, ranging from the ongoing impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic the cost-of-living crisis and, of course, climate change.

The Conference will explore the impact of these crises on developing countries’ debt sustainability, with a view to reassessing ways to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the role of new technologies in mobilizing financial resources. These issues will be addressed through the lens of macroeconomic options available to individual countries and the international community, as well as through policies and best practices in debt management.

The Conference will explore current and topical issues in debt management and public finance, with a focus on forward-looking policy options to address debt and debt management challenges.

Topics will include:

• The growing need for comprehensive debt relief
• Integrating climate change challenges and Sustainable Development Goal financing requirements into viable debt sustainability assessments
• Further improving debt transparency: balancing lender and borrower responsibilities
• The role of financial technology (FinTech) for debt management
• Sovereign debt restructurings: Experiences on the ground and reform requirements
• Operational risk management /Integrated

The DMFAS Advisory Group meeting that will follow the Conference will provide an opportunity for donors, beneficiaries and development partners of the DMFAS Programme to examine its capacity-building activities in debt management and to discuss its future direction.

Participation

This Conference is open tall member States of UNCTAD. Other organizations, including specialized agencies, intergovernmental bodies and non-governmental organizations in the general and special categories, as well as academia, research institutions and the private sector, may participate as observers.

Participation the DMFAS Advisory Group is reserved for those countries benefiting from the use of the debt management software (DMFAS) provided by the UNCTAD DMFAS technical cooperation programme.