§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate for each heavily indebted poor country of debt write off(a) in 1997–98 and (b) expected in the current year from (i) public and (ii) private sources; and if he will publish all the conditions attached to agreements to which the Government are party. [45382]
§ Mrs. Liddell[holding answer 15 June 1998]: (a) The table shows the value (in millions of pounds) of the principal of export credit loans to Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) which has been written off by the UK government in 1997–98. The Government do not have figures for the debt write off granted by other governments.
£million HIPC Debt relief granted by UK in 1997–8 Ethiopia 2.32 Guyana 72.25 Mozambique 0.79 Niger 0.13 Tanzania 0.76 Togo 0.49 Zambia 0.28 Total 77.02 (b) (i) The value of debt relief to be granted to HIPCs in the current year depends on which countries successfully agree IMF programmes and the level of debt relief that is required to finance those programmes. It is likely that debt relief will be granted to at least Rwanda, Guinea-Bissau, Mali and Bolivia in the current year.
(ii) The Government cannot estimate the debt relief likely to be granted to HIPCs by private sources. However, official creditors grant debt relief at the Paris Club on the assumption that private creditors will provide at least equivalent terms of debt relief.