New Issues in Public Debt Management : Government Surpluses in Several OECD Countries, the Common Currency in Europe and Rapidly Rising Debt in Japan

This paper reviews some of the difficult challenges facing debt managers in the years to come. In countries experiencing a rapidly diminishing gross debt, particularly the United States, this raises the issue of whether private-sector securities can serve as a substitute for the traditionally important government debt market. In the euro area, following the creation of the common currency, the issue is how to avoid that independent debt management strategies hamper the creation of a more efficient euro-area financial market. Turning to Japan, the level of debt is projected to rise rapidly and there is a need to improve the liquidity of the Japanese government bond market. To this end, a number of measures could be introduced to make debt management more efficient, yielding significant cost saving ...