Mandate:      Adopted by the Committee on Financial Markets by written procedure [COM/DAF/CMF/AS(2024)3/REV2]

I. Objectives

1. The overarching objective of the Working Party on Debt Management (WPDM) is to assist the Committee on Financial Markets (CMF) by improving senior government debt managers’ ability to deliver on the primary debt and cash management objective, which is to ensure government financing requirements are met at all times and at the lowest possible cost over the medium to long run, consistent with a prudent level of risk.

2. The intermediary objectives of the WPDM are the following:

• Share knowledge, experience, and expertise in the field of public debt management, as well as in-depth and practical understandings of funding market dynamics and how these can facilitate or constrain debt management operations;

• Promote policies and techniques to achieve effective public debt management, as well as best practices with regards to transparency and accountability in public debt management;

• Support efficient functioning of government securities markets;

• Identify and assess short, medium and long-term public debt management challenges as well as sound mitigation techniques to face those challenges;

• Promote and support bilateral professional relationships between various global sovereign debt management offices.

II. Working methods

3. To achieve these objectives, the WPDM shall:

• Serve as a forum for a policy dialogue among debt management offices with a view to increasing collaboration and knowledge-sharing;

• Collect, analyse and disseminate comparative data in its areas of work, including quantitative and qualitative assessments of sovereign borrowing conditions;

• Produce policy analysis with the aim of elaborating policy options and good practices in the area of public debt management;

• Use effective means to deliver high quality and high impact policy outputs, including through participants’ active contribution to the development of WPDM publications and outputs.

III. Co-ordination arrangements

4. To achieve these objectives, the WPDM shall:

• Maintain close working relationships with relevant OECD bodies on matters related to debt and cash management policies and financial markets;

• co-operate with other international organisations and fora in respect to public debt issues, with a view to coordinate work, avoid duplication, and contribute to their work as relevant;

• Consider the views and input of relevant stakeholders such as regulators and market participants with regard to government securities markets.