The Working Group on Public Debt (WGPD), under the auspices of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), recorded many ‘firsts’ in Calendar year 2020.
Chaired by the Philippine Commission on Audit (COA) for three years since 2017, the WGPD’s mandate is to publish guidelines and other informational materials to be used by Supreme Audit Institutions to encourage proper reporting and sound public debt management.
While the COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to reassessments and changes in priorities and undertakings the overall direction for WGPD remained in accordance with its mandate set under INTOSAI Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Services Committee (Goal 3). Looking back, WGPD takes pride in accomplishing the following feats:
The Working Group’s growing membership
From the 26 members-SAIs assumed by the SAI Philippines in 2017, the Working Group has grown to a total of 38 member-SAIs across Asia, Europe, Pacific, Middle East, Latin America, and Africa by end of 2020, and has gained its first Observer, SAI France, which was conditionally accepted in 2019 and was fully-recognized in 2020 upon the approval of the revised WGPD Terms of Reference.