§ Mr. DavidsonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to prevent IMF support for South Korea being used to subsidise South Korean shipyards; and if he will make a statement. [99844]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonI refer my hon. Friend to the answer my predecessor as Economic Secretary gave him on 1 March 1999,Official Report, column 807W. There is no evidence that IMF support has been used to subsidise the South Korean shipbuilding industry, and this year South Korea has made net repayments to the IMF.
The UK Government strongly support Korea's IMF programme, the benefits of which are now being felt as that country recovers from financial crisis. However, the Government fully acknowledge the necessity to monitor that the terms and conditions of the programme continue to be fully respected. This point was underlined by the Industry Council on 9 November in the context of a discussion of the European Commission's first monitoring report on the situation in the world shipbuilding market.