§ Mr. LilleyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the value of loans including unpaid interest to developing countries made or guaranteed by the British Government which have been forgiven or written off since 1979 broken down by(a) country, (b) year and (c) type of debt; and what has been the total value of loans forgiven or written off since (i) 1979 and (ii) 5 May 1997. [42043]
§ Mrs. Liddell[holding answer 14 May 1998]: (a) The table shows the value (in millions of pounds) of the principal of export credit loans which has been written off by ECGD, broken down by year and by country. The value of unpaid interest forgiven or written off is not available.
495WNo export credit loans were written off before 1991/2, making the total written off since 1979 £690.16 million. The total written off in the financial year 1997/8 (ie including April 1997) is £81.24 million.
(b) The table shows the value (in millions of pounds) of aid loans, including unpaid interest, which has been written off by DFID, broken down by year and by country.
496W
£million Country Year Granted Amount Botswana 1979 20.68 Lesotho 1979 0.4 Malawi 1979 30.7 Sierra Leone 1979 10.35 Sudan 1979 9.87 Tanzania 1979 3.4 The Gambia 1979 5.15 Egypt 1979 17.57 Afghanistan 1979 0.98 Bangladesh 1979 15.36 India2 1979 564.16 Indonesia 1979 39.85 Nepal 1979 1.97 Pakistan 1979 76.03 Sir Lanka 1979 25.21 West. Samoa 1979 0.2 Zimbabwe1 1980 22.9 Uganda 1981 16.45 Uganda1 1981 5.64 Mozambique 1983 21.81 EAC3 1984 2.33 Ethiopia 1984 2.5 Ghana 1985 50.85 Senegal 1988 1.07 Egypt 1991 7.02 Guyana1 1991 5.46 Bolivia 1992 0.14 Honduras 1992 5 Jamaica1 1992 6.1 Zambia 1993 55.91 Guyana 1993 53.43 Jordan 1994 43.79 Jordan1 1994 2.35 Nicaragua 1995 0.53 Nicaragua1 1995 0.05 Peru 1995 1.63 Peru1 1995 3.46 Cote d'Ivoire 1996 3.45 Laos 1997 0.03 Tonga 1997 0.46 Dominica 1997 6.6 Grenada 1997 3.31 St. Lucia 1997 2.83 Mauritius 1998 1.1 Barbados 1998 0.23 Jamaica 1998 7.3 TCI4 1998 1.88 Total 1979–98 1,157.5 1 These countries received Special Debt Cancellation (SDC) rather than Retrospective Terms Adjustment (RTA). However, both mechanisms operate in the same manner. 2 For India, an equivalent amount of cost aid was granted instead of normal RTA 3 East African Community 4 Turks and Caicos Islands The total value of aid loans that has been written off since 1979 is £1,157.5 million. Of this amount, £23.74 million has so far been written off since the beginning of 1997.