§ Mr. Andrew MacKayTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how it is proposed to account for the special debt relief to the poorest and most heavily indebted countries agreed at the Toronto summit this year.
§ Mr. Norman LamontThe arrangements announced by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Overseas Development on 25 November 1988 (WA col. 13) following the Toronto agreement have been modified for technical reasons. ECGD will receive the lower amount of interest from the debtor as before. But it is now intended that, instead of ODA reimbursing ECGD for the forgone receipts, ECGD's obligations to the Consolidated Fund will be reduced by the same amount. The published accounts will be noted to make this clear. These changes will be taken into account during the 1989 public expenditure survey. It is expected that the cost of providing special debt relief in this way will count as part of Britain's net official development assistance to developing countries, as reported to the development assistance committee of the OECD.