§ Lord Juddasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Commonwealth Development Corporation in its new form has been able to establish policy priorities which are fully consistent with those of the Department for International Development, especially with reference to the eradication of poverty; and whether the corporation is on course to implement those priorities. [HL1700]
§ Baroness AmosPoverty elimination depends on a level of sustainable economic growth which outstrips population growth. Investment is key to achieving the economic growth necessary to meet international development targets. CDC's investment policy focuses on investment in poorer countries. This policy is entrenched under the framework designed for the public/private partnership and which became effective at CDC's transformation into a plc last December (when CDC was registered under the name of CDC Group plc). This requires that over a rolling five year period a minimum of 70 per cent of new investments by CDC must be made in poorer countries (defined for this purpose as having a GNP per capita of less than 1,740 US dollars on World Bank data published in 1998). It also requires that CDC should seek to make at least half its investments each year in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. CDC's annual report for 1999 records that over the last five years 83 per cent of CDC's new investments were made in poorer countries.