1. Public Debt Management in Croatia and Reforms in the SBA with the IMF
Athanasios Vamvakidis
IMF Resident Representative in Croatia
April 19, 2006

2. Debt management matters
It affects the cost of the government’s financing
It can result in large changes in the stock of public debt
It is important for fiscal sustainability
It can affect response to economic shocks
A crisis can take place because of bad debt management even when fiscal deficits are low

4. Think of the debt stock as the sea

5. Think of the deficits as the rivers

6. An example of a shock on the debt would be global warming

7. Debt management and the IMF SBA with Croatia
Focus of SBA on external debt
Debt management restructuring a structural benchmark
Limits on government debt guarantees
Limits on net borrowing of large public enterprises
Implementation of permanent software solution in debt management
Strengthening of staff and training in the debt management department
Introduce an electronic system for treasury bill auctions
Emphasis on transparency: fiscal ROSC

8. Debt management is a dynamic process
It is always work in progress
It requires continuous learning
It should follow developments in financial economics and in IT

9. Debt management should be proactive, the best time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining

10. You don’t have to rediscover the wheel
adopt best international practices
use TA effectively