Keynote Address at 17th IMF Public Debt Management Forum

IMF News, June 19, 2019

Source details

Speaker: Tobias Adrian, Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, IMF
Location and date: Tokyo, Japan — June 19, 2019
Co-host: Japanese Ministry of Finance
Forum objective: bring together public debt managers, other government and international agencies, and private sector executives to exchange views on current challenges and opportunities in the sovereign debt capital markets.
Operational goals emphasized:
- ensuring the smooth funding of governments;
- maintaining the availability of attractive savings vehicles;
- promoting the efficient functioning of financial markets.
Conference structure note: the first session is focused on near term and conjunctural conditions; the keynote offers thoughts on longer term and structural issues.

Debt levels are high and likely to remain high.
Debt outstanding is very large in many Advanced Economies (AEs) and some Emerging Markets (EMs).
The global financial crisis led to a sharp increase in government debt as the public sector took over private debt and fiscal policy was switched to an expansive mode.
Some countries have managed to reverse the increase, but an upward shift in debt is found across much of the OECD and major emerging market countries.
The ratio of general government debt to GDP has gone up markedly even in countries such as China, Australia and Vietnam.
Implication: there is plenty for debt managers to do to anticipate possible strains in debt markets and to adapt to longer-term trends.

Elements of the economic and market outlook relevant to debt markets and debt management.
Structural changes occurring in areas such as regulation and technology.
How the public and private sectors can foster beneficial innovation.

IMF Communications Department, MEDIA RELATIONS — Phone: +1 202 623-7100 — Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

Keynote Address at 17th IMF Public Debt Management Forum — Tobias Adrian — June 19, 2019