§ Mr. David StewartTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the progress of the HIPC initiative; and what steps he is taking to enhance the debt management capacity of HIPC in order to meet the UN development goals. [66874]
§ John HealeyThe UK continues to press to ensure that the HIPC (heavily indebted poor countries) initiative provides a sustainable exit from debt. Of the 42 HIPCs, 26 countries have already qualified for debt relief amounting to US%62 billion in total. We therefore welcome the recent announcement of an extra US%1 billion for this aim at the G8 summit in Kananaskis and the statement by G7 leaders on specific measures to deliver on the promise of the enhanced HIPC initiative. The leaders agreed to take action to secure the participation of all creditors, to complete the financing of the initiative and to address the issue of debt sustainability at completion point.
To enable HIPC countries to develop their expertise on debt and debt management, the Department for International Development provided £2.5 million and has committed a further £1.5 million to co-fund the HIPC Capacity Building Programme, which provides technical assistance to these countries.