Issuance of marketable government bonds and bills is traditionally the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance (MOF). However, this task is frequently assigned to the Central Bank (CB) in many African countries. The CB typically has the necessary staff with capital market expertise that the MOF lacks for such front office tasks as conducting auctions, managing tap sales or buybacks, as well as communicating and interacting with market participants. The CB is therefore well suited to manage the task of issuing marketable government securities on behalf of the MOF.