§ Sir John StanleyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will place in theOfficial Report or in the Library the details of the scheme to ease the official debt burden of the poorest and most heavily indebted countries in sub-Saharan Africa agreed in Berlin last month together with the details of the arrangements for implementing the scheme.
§ Mr. LawsonThe Paris Club of Government creditors has agreed that when rescheduling the official debt of the poorest and most heavily indebted countries they will, provided the country in question is following an approved adjustment programme, offer exceptional debt relief.
Some countries will reduce moratorium interest rates either by 3.5 percentage points, or by half, whichever is the less. Others will write off one third of the debt service being rescheduled. These countries will offer repayment terms over 14 years, with eight years' grace. Countries which cannot at present reduce interest rates or write off debt will reschedule over 25 years, with 14 years' grace.
Creditors may also choose to combine options. The United Kingdom will choose to lower interest rates.
The first concessional reschedulings, for Mali and Madagascar, were negotiated in Paris on 27 and 28 October. I expect a number of Commonwealth countries will be eligible to benefit from these terms when they come 747W to the club in due course, and I take great pleasure in this satisfactory conclusion to the initiative which I launched in April 1987.