§ Lord Juddasked Her Majesty's Government:
What were the private export credit, direct private investment, bank lending and voluntary agencies' flows to developing countries in 1991.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyThe net figures are as follows:
1991 (£ million) Private export credits -2 Direct private investment 3,000 Other bilateral securities and claims -680 Grants by voluntary agencies 215 Bank lending is the major element of "other bilateral securities and claims". As banks are not required to provide details of new loans and repayments, the measurement of bank lending is derived from the change in outstanding loans to developing countries over the year, subject to adjustment for exchange rate alterations. For 1991, this change was - £1,760 million.
Repayments and new loans are not, however, the only items affecting the level of banks' claims. To obtain a measure of net banking flows, the figure of -£1,760 million is then adjusted to take into account changes in the level of claims due to write-offs associated with debt sales and swaps of loans for other securities. The latter include bonds issued in connection with debt service reduction agreements. For 1991, such transactions reduced banks' outstanding claims by £1,080 million. The 1991 net bank lending flow was therefore -£680 million.