HC Deb 15 February 1984 vol 54 cc194-5W
Mr. Stuart Holland

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what is the latest available estimate of total aid disbursements in 1983 expressed as a percentage of gross national product;

(2) what is the latest available estimate of the share of British aid in 1983 which was taken up by multilateral commitments;

(3) what is the latest estimate of the share of the United Kingdom's bilateral aid disbursements taken up by the aid trade provision in the course of 1983.

Mr. Raison

It is too early to give other than very broad estimates of 1983 aid expenditure, and statistics for the gross national product of the United Kingdom are available only for the first three-quarters of 1983. No figure is thus yet available for official development assistance as a percentage of gross national product in 1983. The current estimate for 1983 official development assistance is £1,200 million.

The estimate of the share of this £1,200 million taken up by multilateral aid expenditure is 40 per cent., and the share of bilateral aid taken up by the aid trade provision 4.7 per cent.

Mr. Stuart Holland

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what disbursements have been made under the aid trade provision during the month of December 1983 and January 1984; which countries have been direct beneficiaries of disbursements; and which British companies have been indirect beneficiaries.

Mr. Raison

The following is the information requested:

Recipient country Project Principal contractor Amount

£
11. Zimbabwe Railway electrification GEC/Westinghouse/Balfour Beatty 4,100
12. Zimbabwe Hwange Power Station PED Ltd. 127,000
13. Zimbabwe Abattoir feasibility study Arup 76,500

Notes:

  1. 1. The principal contractors only are listed. It is not possible to indicate the extent of sub-contracting which takes place in most ATP projects.
  2. 2. In addition to the projects listed, there are 13 other ATP-supported projects currently in progress but to which no disbursements were made during the period covered by the question.