Meridian, the Commonwealth Secretariat’s improved public debt management software, is about to be tested in India by debt managers from member countries ahead of its launch next year.
Meridian, the Commonwealth Secretariat’s improved public debt management software, is about to be tested in India by debt managers from member countries ahead of its launch next year.
Meridian has been developed to cater for the transformation of the public debt arena in recent years, and to take advantage of significant advancements in technology. The new system will facilitate the strong emphasis that is placed on a country’s debt management strategy, as well as the growing importance of the management of contingent liabilities, new reporting standards and the need for improved transparency.
Pamella McLaren, head of debt management at the Commonwealth Secretariat, said: “Meridian is a new cutting edge software inclusive of several business requirements of member states to assist them in managing their public debt portfolio, taking into account minimising costs with an acceptable level of risks. You spoke and we listened.”
The Secretariat’s Debt Management Unit has developed Meridian to replace its current solution CS-DRMS with advanced and improved functionality. The current solution has been available for the past decade and is used in more than 60 countries - both Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth countries alike.
The unit’s main objective is to promote prudent debt management practices in Commonwealth member countries by providing advisory support in developing sound debt management policies, strategies and operations in line with best practice, backed up by state-of-the-art debt software.
Meridian is being trialled in India in November, and will be available to its existing member states from January 2018 on a pilot basis with selected countries. Subsequently, Meridian will be made available to all countries from January 2019.
Meridian will cater for both SQL and Oracle sites. Full specification is available on request by emailing [email protected]. The Commonwealth Secretariat will be providing a migration tool to assist countries to move seamlessly from CS-DRMS to Meridian. The Secretariat will continue to support CS-DRMS for a limited number of years after Meridian has been fully released.
