Mexico City, June 6, 2018—Debt managers and other public finance officials can effectively leverage capital market innovations to build resilience against economic volatility and other external risks, international experts said at a capital markets conference in Mexico City today.
Participants of the Government Borrowers Forum (GBF), held from June 4-6 in Mexico City, discussed how innovations in technology, fixed income markets, and other areas can be used to build resilience against risks and channel funding toward important sectors such as climate finance and infrastructure.
Now in its 37th year, the GBF is a forum for senior officials of countries issuing in international capital markets and treasurers of multilateral development banks to share debt management experiences, and exchange views on capital markets topics of common interest. Each year, about 80 to 100 senior debt managers from around the world attend. This year’s GBF was hosted by Mexico’s Ministry of Finance and Public Credit and organized in partnership with the World Bank Treasury, which hosts the GBF Secretariat. It marks the first time that the Forum returns to Latin America since it was last hosted by Colombia in 2014. Participants from 31 countries attended, spanning the globe from England and the United States to the Philippines and South Africa.
World Bank Vice President and Treasurer Arunma Oteh said: “This long-standing forum brings together debt managers and other public finance managers for a very candid discussion on shared challenges and opportunities. This year’s GBF was particularly timely, given the rapidly changing environment in which we all operate. From harnessing new technologies for financial management to developing new ways to mobilize finances for sustainable investments, public debt managers face a uniquely challenging global context—and one that also offers important opportunities to change the way we operate to build more resilient economies.”
Speakers at the 2018 GBF also included Mexico’s Minister of Finance, Jose Antonio Gonzalez Anaya; Mexico’s Deputy Finance Minister, Miguel Messmacher; the Head of Mexico’s Debt Management Office, Juan Pablo Newman; World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jorge Familiar; and senior officials and private sector representatives from around the world.
