WASHINGTON, December 9, 2016—The World Bank Treasury announced today that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has joined the Government Debt and Risk Management (GDRM) program, a World Bank Treasury initiative sponsored by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs-SECO, that is providing assistance to middle-income countries (MICs) to improve macroeconomic and fiscal management by reducing vulnerability to financial and other shocks.
The work program in FYR Macedonia will begin officially in January 2017. World Bank Treasury debt management experts will work closely with the Public Debt Management Department in the Ministry of Finance of FYR Macedonia to prepare an action plan for debt management reforms and initiate work on strategy development.
Specific areas of focus include: building capacity to improve access to international markets, to use financial derivatives, and to develop the domestic market; strengthening the links between the debt strategy, debt sustainability and fiscal strategy; and improving the debt management IT system.
The GDRM Program, which brings a tailored approach to each country’s priorities, provides expert advisory services to improve the quality of government debt and risk portfolio. The program is uniquely designed to support MICs from diagnostic work, to reform plans through implementation. Since its inception in 2011, the program has grown from serving three to 11 countries. Other participating countries include Azerbaijan, Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Peru, Serbia, South Africa, Tunisia, and Vietnam.
