§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what has been the level of aid to the Philippines(a) from the European Community and (b) from the British overseas aid programme, for each year since 1986; and what is (b) as a proportion of (a).
§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd(a) European Community aid expenditure on the Philippines for each year since 1986 has been:
Million ecu Sterling equivalent million1 1986 21.90 16.31 1987 4.50 3.35 1988 14.00 10.43 1989 22.50 16.76 1990 31.66 23.90 1991 5.46 4.07 1992 53.15 39.59 1993 49.06 36.54 1 ecu—sterling exchange rate £1 = 1.3426. (b) British bilateral aid expenditure on the Philippines since 1986 has been:
£'s million 1986 0.205 1987 0.262 1987–88 0.666 1988–89 1.003 1989–90 13.290 1990–91 4.042 1991–92 1.934 1992–93 9.038
(C) As a proportion of (a), (b) is: Per cent. 1986 1.3 1987 7.8 1987–88:1988 6.4 1988–89:1989 5.9 1989–90:1990 55.6 1990–91:1991 99.3 1991–92:1992 4.9 1992–93:1993 24.7 In respect of United Kingdom financial year 1989–90 the percentage figure is high because it coincided with payments, made under our aid and trade programme; in 1990–91, EC aid was, as will be seen from table (a), unusually low. Direct comparisons of this sort can be misleading, as is shown by the figures for these two financial years.