KINGSTON, St. Vincent, CMC – The London-based Commonwealth Secretariat Monday mentioned it has rolled out a state-of-the-art software program program in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to remodel how the nation manages its public debt portfolio of US$2.2 billion.
It mentioned the island is the final sovereign state of the Japanese Caribbean Financial and Foreign money Union (ECCU) to undertake Commonwealth Meridian software program inside its nationwide infrastructure.
Final month, the Secretariat and the federal government carried out a two-week workshop, bringing collectively numerous stakeholders from the Debt Administration Workplace, the Financial Analysis and Coverage Unit, and the Treasury and Exterior Audit Unit.
The pinnacle of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Debt Administration Workplace, Harold Lewis, mentioned
“as debt administration operations proceed to evolve, we see the migration to utilizing Commonwealth Meridian as a necessary helpful device for the Debt Administration Workplace and different key stakeholders.
“Meridian, as a web-based debt system, now gives us with enhanced and user-friendly capabilities to enhance knowledge high quality by way of accuracy, timeliness, and completeness, thereby selling better debt transparency,” Lewis added.
Commonwealth Meridian replaces its predecessor, the Commonwealth Secretariat: Debt Recording and Administration System (CS-DRMS), which has helped the island report and handle its public debt since 1988.
Joanne Allin, a enterprise analyst on the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Debt Administration Unit, mentioned that the roll-out of Commonwealth Meridian right here marks “a big milestone” in modernizing the nation’s debt administration operations.
“By leveraging superior know-how and complete coaching, the initiative will enhance effectivity, accuracy, and transparency in managing the nation’s debt.
“It will go a great distance towards attaining debt sustainability and fostering resilient financial progress within the area, in the end making a optimistic affect on the lives of individuals in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,” she mentioned.
Fiscal and Debt Specialist on the St. Kitts-based Japanese Caribbean Central Financial institution (ECCB)
Juletta Edinborough mentioned the implementation of the Commonwealth Meridian throughout the ECCU.
It’s a important achievement for debt administration.
She mentioned the ECCU nations Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines can now make the most of this contemporary and strong system to report and handle their debt portfolios.
“The system provides better flexibility within the forms of devices recorded, a welcomed innovation, as nations can now report all of their non-traditional home debt devices, which was not possible with the legacy system.”
First developed in 1985, the Commonwealth Secretariat’s debt administration system goals to enhance financial efficiency by serving to nations report and handle debt.
The upgraded system, Commonwealth Meridian, was launched in 2019 and is already utilized in 47 nations worldwide.
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