§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the level of debt repayments from developing countries received by the United Kingdom in each of the last 10 years; and what was the level of new loans, investment, export credits and aid from Government and charities in each of those years.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydOn the level of official debt repayments, I refer the hon. Member to the letter my noble Friend the Minister for Overseas Development wrote to him on 26 January, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House. Provision of information on debt repayment poses the same problem as does information on interest alone. The United Kingdom net official and private flows to developing countries 1989–91 as published in the "British Aid Statistics" are as follows:
Official development assistance Official export credits Project loans1 Voluntary agencies 1989 1,584 209 71 150 1990 1,503 259 88 170 1991 1,814 192 101 215 1 Project loans is the definition for loan money actually spent in any given year rather than loan money committed in that year. Figures for the seven years prior to 1989 are not immediately available. My noble Friend the Minister for Overseas Development will write to the hon. Member with this information in due course.