By Maimuna Sey-Jawo
The Central Bank of The Gambia is currently hosting a five-day regional forum on sovereign borrowing.
It is being organised by the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (Waifem), and is bringing together officials from the Federal Debt Management office of Nigeria, officials from Ghana’s finance ministry and The Gambia.
The objective is to provide participants with an in-depth understanding of sovereign borrowing from capital or global markets, have a broad and deep understanding of global capital markets, the methodology behind bond issuance and the role of markets in ensuring growth of the economies of Waifem countries.
Momodou Lamin Jarju, programme manager of debt management of Waifem, said the forum is being organised in the backdrop of growing capital flows to emerging and developing markets.
“Nigeria and Ghana have been accessing global capital markets through the issuance of Euro bonds, of which the rest of our region can learn a lot from their knowledge and experiences,” he stated.
Jarju said the focus is on raising capital through the use of global debt capital markets.
“The course focuses on some of the specifics of the debt capital markets and possible debt capital raising structures,” he explained.
He challenged participants to seize the opportunity being offered by the forum “to forge and strengthen your professional network within the sub-region region”.
