HC Deb 11 November 1998 vol 319 cc203-4W
12. Mr. Wells

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on her Department's debt-reduction programmes. [57813]

Clare Short

My Department supports debt reduction programmes where these help eradicate poverty and has obtained agreement at the annual meeting of the World Bank and IMF that the HIPC initiative will be reviewed to ensure that debt relief contributes to poverty elimination. My Department has written off £1.26 billion of debt since 1978. We are seeking to speed up the implementation of the HIPC initiative to ensure that all eligible countries are on track for debt relief by 2000. We are currently providing £100 million to help some HIPC countries meet their debt service payments in advance of receiving debt relief.

Miss Geraldine Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent steps the Government have taken to alleviate the adverse effects of the burden of debt repayments of the poorest countries of the world. [59005]

Clare Short

Over the past eighteen months, the Department for International Development (DFID) has cancelled some £30 million of bilateral aid debts, and provided some £36 million to help the African Development Bank meet its share of the cost of implementing the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt Initiative. In addition, we are providing around £100 million to help a number of developing countries meet their debt service payments to the international financial institutions; we have committed $10 million to help meet Mozambique's residual financing gap under the HIPC Initiative; and we have contributed £400,000 to Debt Relief International, a London based organisation, which delivers technical assistance in debt management to poor countries. We are also funding research on the key issues of debt sustainability and internal debt.

As well as providing direct financial support to help relieve poor countries of their debt burdens, we are taking action to ensure that the forthcoming comprehensive review of the HIPC Initiative looks at whether sufficient levels of debt relief are being provided to developing countries. We are pressing for the review to examine in more detail the relationship between debt relief and poverty reduction, to make certain that debt relief will help developing countries achieve the international development targets. And the Chancellor and I have just proposed a new initiative, calling on bilateral and multilateral creditors to find ways of providing debt relief to countries which have been struck by natural disasters, thereby freeing urgent resources to fund emergency relief and reconstruction.

22. Mr. Healey

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on action her Department is taking to relieve the pressure of chronic debts for the poorest developing countries. [57823]

Clare Short

The Chancellor and I are working to seek international agreement to speed up the implementation of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative so that all eligible countries will be on track for debt relief by 2000. In addition over the last eighteen months, the Department for International Development (DFID) has cancelled some £30 million of bilateral aid debts, and provide some £36 million to help the African Development Bank meet its share of the cost of implementing the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt Initiative. We are also providing around £100 million to help a number of developing countries meet their debt service payments to the international financial institutions. We have committed $10 million to help meet Mozambique's residual financing gap under the HIPC Initiative; and we have contributed £400,000 to Debt Relief International to provided technical assistance in debt management to poor countries. We are also funding research on the key issues of debt sustainability and internal debt.

We are also taking action to ensure that the forthcoming comprehensive review of the HIPC Initiative looks at whether sufficient levels of debt relief is being provided to developing countries. We are pressing for the review to examine in more detail the relationship between debt relief and poverty reduction, to make certain that debt relief will help developing countries achieve the international development targets.

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