§ Mr. StreeterTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much debt relief was granted by her Department in(a) 1997–98 and (b) 1998–99. [77622]
§ Clare ShortIn 1997–98 the Department for International Development (DFID) approved new debt relief arrangements totalling £26.1 million. To date in 1998–99 a further £10.3 million of debt relief has been granted. In addition, over the past two years, we have foregone repayments of aid loans totalling £38.8 million under debt relief arrangements reached before April 1997.
As well as cancelling aid debts owed to my Department, we have provided assistance to countries to help them meet their debt service payments. We have provided £10 million to Mozambique in 1997–98 and £16 million in 1998–99 for this purpose. For Tanzania we have provided £16.6 million in 1997–98 and £25 million in 1998–99, and we contributed £5 million to the Multilateral Debt Trust Fund for Rwanda in January 1999. Most recently, in March 1999, we contributed £10 million to the Trust Fund set up following Hurricane Mitch, to assist Nicaragua and Honduras meet their international debt service payments.
DFID is also assisting the international financial institutions in providing debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. In June 1998, we contributed £6.3 million to the HIPC Trust Fund to assist the African Development Bank (AfDB) with its costs in providing debt relief for Uganda. We have pledged a further £30 million for the AfDB, £11 million of which is earmarked for Mali and Mozambique, who are expected to receive HIPC debt relief later this year.