PSOJ Honours Head of Debt Management Unit

Acting Senior Director for the Debt Management Unit in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Pamela McLaren, has been honoured with a citation by the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ) for her contribution to the success of the Government’s debt management regime, on Tuesday (March 23).
The citation, read by PSOJ President, Joseph M. Matalon, hailed her for “exemplary leadership” displayed in the execution of the Jamaica Debt Exchange (JDX), and described her as the “driving force’ behind its implementation.
It recalled Mrs. McLaren’s 28 years in the civil service, commencing in 1983 when she joined the staff of the Bank of Jamaica. She subsequently moved to the Ministry of Finance in 1998, when debt management functions were centralised there. She worked as Director for External Debt and was subsequently promoted, in 2006, to her current position.
Her duties involve: debt strategy and policy formulation; resource mobilization; debt recording and monitoring; and registrar and payment functions.
The Citation, presented during the PSOJ Chairman’s Club Forum Breakfast at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, highlighted Mrs. McLaren’s instrumentality in establishing the Debt Management Unit, pointing to her integral role in the “successful execution” of highly successful Government issuances, in the local and international capital markets.
It stated that, over the past few months, she has spearheaded the execution of what has become one of the most successful debt exchange initiatives, worldwide.
“During this period, her calm demeanour, further enhanced by her extensive knowledge and impeccable relationships with market players, made her a driving force behind the successful transaction that has been described as a game changer for the Jamaican economy,” Mr. Matalon quoted.
In reply, Mrs. McLaren expressed gratitude for the PSOJ’s recognition, and thanked stakeholders who participated in the JDX, noting that it would not have been so successful without their commitment and participation.
“It’s not just the Ministry that did a lot of hard work. you also did a lot of hard work to make this a success. And it just demonstrates, as Jamaicans, (that) when we pull ourselves together as a group, collectively, what we can do,” Mrs. McLaren said
The JDX entailed voluntary exchange of existing Government of Jamaica bonds, excluding Treasury Bills, issued in the domestic market, for new bonds of the same principal value, but at a lower interest cost and over a longer maturity period.
The medium term initiative, which recorded participation of upwards of 99 per cent, was pivotal to Jamaica securing up to US $2.4 billion in low cost financing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).