This annual debt bulletin is published in fulfilment of the requirements of Section 71 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921), which mandates the Public Debt Office to publish, at least half-yearly, statistics on the public debt.
This bulletin shows Government’s commitment to ensuring transparency in its debt management operations. The bulletin gives a comprehensive overview of the public debt and all activities and transactions that have impacted the public debt portfolio in 2020.
Global economic activity was largely disrupted in the first two quarters of the 2020 as the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic heightened market uncertainties, leading to severe market dislocations in both the equity and debt markets. Governments all over adopted various forms of restrictive measures – lockdowns, social distancing etc. – as part of efforts to curb the rapid spread of the virus. These measures dampened global demand and supply for non-essential goods and services and upended global growth.
Due to the anticipated slower recovery from the pandemic, the IMF in June revised the global growth projection further down by 1.9 percentage points to -4.9 percent1. By the third quarter, however, there was a rebound in economic activities as countries eased restriction, with China posting a favourable increase in export volumes. In January 2021, the IMF estimated global economic growth in 2020 to contract by 3.5 percent2. They further noted that the path of recovery was dependent on each country’s medical interventions to curb the spread of the COVID-19.