HC Deb 17 December 1998 vol 322 c757W
Mr. Cox

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the debt burden of each of the 10 poorest countries in the world. [63338]

Ms Hewitt

World Bank data in its 1998–99 World Development Report show the following external debt burdens for the 10 poorest countries:

$ billion
Country External debt
Mozambique 5.8
Ethiopia 10.0
Democratic Republic Congo 12.8
Burundi 1.1
Sierra Leone 1.1
Niger 1.5
Tanzania 7.4
Rwanda 1.0
Nepal 2.4
Malawi 2.3

The accuracy of these data should be treated with caution due to the poor data collection and reporting mechanisms of many poor countries.

Table 1—Net contributions by Member States 1988–97 (million European currency units)
Country 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
Belgium1 995.0 1,123.9 773.9 -416.6 -165.5 -59.6 309.3 311.2 746.2 989.7
Denmark -330.6 -174.2 -422.5 -346.3 -276.6 -376.9 -198.9 -305.7 -193.4 -24.0
Germany 6,107.2 6,530.6 5,550.4 8,796.8 9,697.6 11,830.3 13,637.1 13,431.0 10,894.9 11,228.1
Greece -1,491.6 -1,998.2 -2,470.2 -2,926.4 -3,604.0 -4,136.7 -3,851.9 -3,488.9 -3,932.7 -4,194.0
Spain -1,334.2 30.7 -1,711.3 -2,294.6 -2,739.6 -3,090.4 -3,116.6 -7,218.1 -5,972.2 -5,850.5
France 1,780.9 2,946.3 1,804.9 2,449.5 1,443.6 1,019.6 2,626.4 1,727.2 459.8 985.0
Ireland -1,159.3 -1,340.8 -1,892.5 -2,357.3 -2,140.1 -2,371.9 -1,752.0 -1,886.9 -2,260.3 -2,623.6
Italy -124.2 1,428.8 416.7 1,388.6 504.3 1,525.4 2,540.4 614.1 1,402.3 323.1
Luxembourg1 67.4 64.6 60.0 -159.7 -164.0 -189.6 -253.7 44.8 79.3 64.6
Netherlands -1,150.0 -1,129.4 -368.4 537.9 829.0 1,326.6 1,829.9 2,004.7 2,446.8 2,348.7
Austria n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 905.1 272.2 792.8
Portugal -514.9 -487.2 -600.8 -1,516.2 -2,139.9 -2,508.4 -1,827.0 -2,381.1 -2,774.3 -2,612.3