MONROVIA – June 14, 2019:- 37 participants have been awarded certificates following the completion of a five-day regional course on audit of Public Debt Management at the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL). The course, organized by the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), was attended by executives, senior and middle-level officials from central banks, ministries of finance and economic planning, debt management, national audit, comptroller and accountant general offices from the Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
In his closing remarks, the Executive Governor of the CBL, Honorable Nathaniel R. Patray, III, spoke of the need to strengthen the sub-region’s national audit offices and other public institutions. Historical evidence, Executive Governor Patray said, show the positive impact strong institutions and a sound policy framework have on a nation’s capacity to sustain its debt and withstand “exogenous shocks.” The CBL Executive urged national audit offices to play their roles in enforcing controls and protecting government’s financial condition by promoting sound public debt strategies and risk management practices; data disclosure polices and effective supervisory-regulatory regimes for public financial management (PFM).
Executive Governor Patray hoped that knowledge acquired from the workshop would help participants from national audit offices and other public institutions in understanding public debt management and the effective approaches to conducting performance audits of public debt management. The Governor called for the swift application of the knowledge acquired in the sub-region’s respective audit offices, pledging to ensure that the issues raised will claim the highest attention of Liberia’s fiscal and monetary authorities.
On behalf of the Director General of WAIFEM, Dr. Baba Y. Musa, the Director of Research Department of the Institute, Mr. Alvin Johnson, lauded the Governor and his team for the warm hospitality according WAIFEM and the participants and hope knowledge acquired would be used to enhance the work of audit intuitions in the sub-region.