§ Mr. DenhamTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the effect of the Brady initiative on(a) the total debt owed by developing countries and (b) the debt service payable by developing countries.
§ Mr. Nelson[holding answer 26 November 1992]: As noted by the IMF/World Bank Development Committee on 21 September, arrangements for debt and debt service reduction measures have now been reached with 12 countries and account for more than 90 per cent. of the commercial bank debt of the major debtor nations. These arrangements involve a variety of debt and interest rate reduction measures which, on average, are equivalent to a debt reduction of more than one third of their commercial bank debt.