Job Description

Work for the IMF. Work for the World.

The Visiting Scholar will work on three projects:

• Project 1: Update of the Framework on Development of the Government Local Currency Bond Market (existing project, 10 days). In 2021, the IMF and the World Bank jointly developed the Local Currency Bond Market (LCBM) Development Framework, which provides a systematic diagnostic approach to assessing domestic debt market development. Since its launch, LCBM diagnostic TA missions have been piloted in 20 member countries, helping authorities identify policy gaps and prioritize reforms through sequenced roadmaps. Building on lessons from the pilot phase, the framework and analytical toolkit are being refined and will be updated following an informal Board briefing by March 2027.

• Project 2: Sovereign debt restructuring: engaging private creditors and restoring market access following a debt treatment (existing project, 10 days). The division is updating analysis on market access indicators that will be key input from MCM to the Exceptional Access Workplan.

• Project 3: Public Debt Management Governance Framework Guidelines (new, 10 days). The guidelines on public debt management governance is aimed to strengthen the governance framework and transparency of public debt management operations. For this purpose, specific and operational debt management (DM) indicators will be identified, which will help to strengthen Fund surveillance, consistent with emerging priorities under the Comprehensive Surveillance Review. The objective would be to move beyond conceptual discussion toward a practical surveillance application. The work will draw on members’ debt management strategies and frameworks and established benchmarks such as the Public Debt Management (PDM) Guidelines revised by the IMF-World Bank in 2014. Coverage would include institutional arrangements and processes, issuance practices and instrument choice, risk management frameworks, and debt data accounting and reporting. The framework would explicitly incorporate new DM challenges since the 2014 PDM Guidelines and inform both surveillance and a future update of the PDM Guidelines.

Expected outputs and deadlines:

The scholar will work closely with dedicated staff from the MCMDM Division. He/She is expected to regularly consult with and report to the Division Chief and designated MCMDM staff on the deliverables of the above three projects that he will be involved, namely the update of the framework on the development of the Government Local Currency Bond Market; the issue of the sovereign debt restructuring that relates to the engagement of private creditors in restoring market access following a debt treatment; and the development of Public Debt Management Governance Framework Guidelines

Background/rationale for requesting short-term hire:

The Division is facing a large and increasing workload of technical assistance in low- and middle-income countries, with five long-term experts to cover over 70 countries. These countries are confronted with increasingly complex debt management challenges, some dealing with debt distressed situations, and LCBM development hurdles. Such situations often involve new or contested issues, which necessitate solutions outside the currently in use PDM Governance- and LCBM-frameworks. This realization has led us to initiate a review aiming to critically assess these frameworks, with the prospect of updating and modernizing the prevailing practices and guidelines in order to provide consistent solutions to newly-faced problems. An additional short-term hire is required to ensure a comprehensive and timely undertaking of such framework-updating initiatives.

Further, in its mandate to work on sovereign debt restructuring issues, MCMDM interacts with other Fund Departments and Area Department Teams to provide advice related to the process of sovereign debt restructuring. In this context, the Division needs to maintain a thorough understanding of the role of private sector involvement in regaining market access following a debt treatment. Such understanding helps better assess member countries’ sovereign debt restructurings, including required actions by private sector creditors, in terms of negotiation processes and instruments, to efficiently complete a debt resolution. This will enable Division staff to provide recommendations to Area Department Teams and country authorities that could facilitate timely debt-exchange deals and quicker market re-access.

Department:

MCMDM Monetary and Capital Markets Dept. Debt Capital Markets

Hiring For:

B02

The IMF is guided by the principle that the employment, classification, promotion, and assignment of staff shall be made without discrimination against any person. We welcome requests for reasonable accommodations for disabilities during the selection process. Information on how to request accommodations will be provided during the application process.