Latest content: Trade and economy

A Handbook on Public Debt Transparency, produced by the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Debt Management Unit, provides a practical blueprint to assist debt managers and stakeholders to improve transparency in debt management operations through the implementation of a wide range of activities.
The Handbook provides information on key debt transparency issues relevant to both developing and advanced economies based on the Commonwealth Secretariat’s long history of providing technical assistance and capacity-building to debt managers, senior officials and policy-makers in member countries and for stakeholders. The Commonwealth Secretariat’s debt management programme strives to promote sound practices in debt management, including the provisioning of a debt management system since 1983. The Commonwealth Secretariat Debt Recording and Management System (CS-DRMS), an integrated tool for recording, analysing and reporting public sector debt, has evolved into the flagship Commonwealth Meridian, a comprehensive solution that promotes effective and proactive debt management.

The ‘blue economy’ is an evolving development approach centred around sustainable utilisation of the ocean for its full socio-economic potential. It seeks to promote economic growth, social inclusion, and the preservation or improvement of livelihoods, while at the same time ensuring environmental sustainability of ocean and coastal areas. Perhaps nowhere is the blue economy more relevant than in the Caribbean, where it directly supports the economies of 37 coastal and small island countries and territories.

Member countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) have jurisdiction over maritime areas that are significantly larger than their respective land areas and are, therefore, increasingly looking to their maritime waters to both diversify and bolster economic growth by exploring new opportunities for investment, employment and to support local livelihoods. Not only do opportunities exist for growth and innovation in traditional sectors, such as fisheries, marine transport and marine-based tourism, but also to expand into higher-value emerging sectors such as sustainable aquaculture, marine biotechnology and marine renewable energy.

As countries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and face the compounding challenges of global inflation, debt, climate change and sociopolitical scenarios, there is a need to explore new investment strategies to accelerate economic development, build resilience and balance competing environmental, economic and social pressures. In this context, the concept of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) as a framework for sustainable growth has gained new relevance. This paper discusses the potential benefits of ESG in terms of enabling sustainable economic growth in the Commonwealth, including possible technical assistance, capacity building and policy development on ESG for public debt management and improved public sector sustainability, including collaboration with International Financial Institutions financing standards.