§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what has been(a) the level of debt repayments to United Kingdom banks from developing countries and (b) the level of new United Kingdom bank lending to developing countries in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydUnited Kingdom banks are required to report details of loans outstanding to developing countries, but not to show separately flows of new lending, repayments and reschedulings. It is therefore only possible to provide the net flows. These show net repayments to United Kingdom banks from developing countries over the last five years:
6W
Gross bilateral United Kingdom expenditure on aid per capita1 1988 £ actual 1989 £ actual 1990 £ actual 1991–92 £ actual Afghanistan 0.07 0.13 0.07 n/a Algeria 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.01 Angola 0.05 0.14 0 12 0.13 Anguilla 199.88 249.61 162.82 n/a Antigua and Barbuda 14.20 9 01 12.63 22.89 Bahamas 0.02 0.12 0.33 0 31 Bangladesh 0.40 0.50 0.50 0.51 Barbados 1.99 1.12 17.23 9.38 Belize 18.15 20.80 29.68 19.07 Benin 0.08 0.07 0.07 0.04 Bermuda 0.42 0.69 0.08 0.03 Bhutan 0.31 0.30 0.31 0.54 Bolivia 0.43 0.58 0.57 0.54 Botswana 7.20 6.68 6.84 9.25 Brazil 0.01 0 31 0.01 0.02 British Virgin Islands 193.68 317.73 184.96 16.88 Brunei 0.01 0.04 0.03 0.03 Burkina Faso 0.04 0.03 0.03 0.04 Burma2 0.06 0.02 — — Burundi 0.02 0.03 0.03 0.03 Cambodia 0.02 0.04 0.01 n/a Cameroon 0.49 0.45 0.24 0.26 Cape Verde Islands 0.15 0.18 0.13 0.30 Cayman Islands 76.19 62.14 146.64 n/a Central African Republic 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.02 Chad 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.04 Chile 0.02 0.02 0.03 0.05 China 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.02 Colombia 0.06 0.07 0.06 0.12 Comoros 0.00 0.02 — 0.04
Repayments (net) £ million 1987 1,500 1988 800 1989 850 1990 1,010 1991 680 Positive net financial transfers from banks to developing countries are not necessarily desirable. For example, if debtors were to receive new market rate loans to cover interest payments on old debt, this would show up as a positive transfer, but it would also increase the debt burden. The purpose of commercial bank lending is, rather, for loans to be invested on a productive basis, so as to finance interest and repayments when the time comes.