§ Lord Alton of Liverpoolasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the current debts of the world's 25 poorest nations; what is the estimated size of the debts of the developing countries; what are the current levels of repayment; how much is repaid to the United Kingdom annually; and how this compares with the size of our current aid programme. [HL1409]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyThe table below shows, for the latest year available, figures from the World Bank'sGlobal Development Finance 1998 on the debts owed by the world's 25 poorest nations, defined as the countries with the lowest GNP per capita, the debt service received by ECGD in 1998 and UK bilateral aid in 1997–98 excluding aid given through multilateral programmes such as EC, World Bank Group, Regional Development Bank Group, Commonwealth, UN agencies and international research organisations.
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Country Total Long-term Debt Burden (US$m)in 1996 Total Debt Service Paid (US$m) in 1996 Debt Service Received by ECGD 1998 (£000s) Bilateral Aid Programme from UK 1997–98 (£000s) Angola 9.400 645 0 5,131 Bangladesh 15.403 595 0 38,865 Burkina Faso 1.160 45 81 156 Burundi 1 081 21 0 1,602 Cambodia 2,023 8 0 4,748 Central African Republic 844 5.2 0 — Chad 914 22.9 0 153 DR Congo 9.262 0 0 6,911
Country Total Long-term Debt Burden (US$m)in 1996 Total Debt Service Paid (US$m) in 1996 Debt Service Received by ECGD 1998 (£000s) Bilateral Aid Programme from UK 1997–98 (£000s) Ethiopia 10,077 346 564 7,357 Guinea-Bissau 856 9.6 0 76 Haiti 836 20.7 0 125 Kenya 6,022 747 11,554 29,213 Madagascar 3,589 55 529 477 Malawi 2,092 68 86 25,694 Mali 2,776 106 263 697 Mozambique 5,476 140 355 21,938 Nepal 2,349 76 0 17,252 Niger 1,460 43 152 151 Nigeria 25,731 2,461 0 9,071 Rwanda 977 16 0 6.198 Sierra Leone 892 54 0 3,133 Tanzania 6,149 229 0 42,167 Togo 1,285 42 366 80 Uganda 3,151 95 406 47,875 Vietnam 22,344 251 821 4,329 There are some 165 developing countries listed in Part I of the DAC list of aid recipients. Global Development Finance shows the total long-term debt stock held by these countries in 1996 to be 1, 400 billion US dollars, and the total debt service paid to be 207 billion US dollars.