IMF Conference

The Fourteenth International Monetary Fund Public Debt Management Forum will be held during the period June 26–27, 2014 in Paris. Agence France Trésor is hosting the event. As usual, the target audience is public debt management experts, including senior government debt managers, public debt policymakers, central bank officials, academics, and the private sector.

The topic of this year’s forum is "Looking Ahead—Managing Public Debt Through the Recovery." Although global activity has picked up in the later part of 2013 and the outlook appears to be positive, downside risks remain. If growth is maintained, what adjustments from policymakers and market participants, including end-investors, should we expect to see?

During the past few years debt managers have been in the spot light. It used to be the case that debt managers operated behind the scenes; but since the start of the crisis, they have been in the front line supporting and implementing governments’ wider policies. Indeed, once a specialized topic, public debt management has been on the news and subject to scrutiny. Has this made a difference in the way debt managers operate?

Picking up where we left off at last year’s forum, we agreed about the importance of maintaining the resilience of liquidity in government debt markets. Exit from unconventional monetary policy and the upcoming potential regulatory reforms could have a major impact on government debt market liquidity. It would be interesting to hear from debt experts, what, if any, preparations and measures debt managers should take. In particular, how issuance, liability management operations, and debt instruments will be affected.

It is also uncertain how markets would respond to an end of accommodative monetary policy. For instance, did the knee-jerk market reaction in May 2013 prompt investors to take pre-emptive measures in readjusting their portfolio? We would also expect investors’ risk appetite to return with global recovery. Will this see investors move from safe sovereign securities toward high-yield assets? What about recent bouts of sovereign distress which have tested the assumption that sovereign debt is a credit risk-free asset? What are the long-term implications?

Against this background, upcoming regulatory reforms in financial services, such as restrictions on proprietary trading, shifting away from bilateral trading, also introduce uncertainties for market players. Have the potential consequences for the government debt market been assessed?

We hope to discuss these issues and others at the event. More details will follow in the next few weeks.

This event is by invitation only, no press is invited.

Venue:
Centre de conférence Pierre Mendès France
Ministère de l’Economie et de Finances,
139 rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris

For questions regarding the event, please contact:

IMF
Ms. Miriam Tamene
Debt and Capital Market Instruments
Monetary and Capital Markets Department
+1 (202) 623 7788
mtamene@imf.org

Ms. Anastasiya Shin
Debt and Capital Market Instruments
Monetary and Capital Markets Department
+1 (202) 623 4912
ashin@imf.org

Agence France Trésor
Mr. Hugo Pillu
Head of Research and Strategy
tel. +33 (1) 4004 1572
hugo.pillu@aft.gouv.fr