HC Deb 19 January 2000 vol 342 cc477-8W
Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what is the role of her Department in monitoring and measuring the bilateral debt relief programme. [105681]

Mr. Foulkes

Our Department has no direct role in monitoring and measuring the use of the bilateral debt relief which is provided as part of an international agreement, including that given under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. We strongly welcome the sharpened poverty focus of the HIPC Initiative agreed in September 1999. In order to benefit under the enhanced Initiative, HIPC countries will have to produce a poverty reduction strategy (PRS), based around the achievement of the international development targets. Our Department is closely engaged in the international discussions on the development of these strategies, including how they will be monitored. We place great importance on both civil society and the international community being able to monitor their implementation, and we recognise that increased international efforts will be required in this area. In November 1999, the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century was launched. Its aims are to provide statistical assistance to HIPC countries in producing their poverty reduction strategies and to develop sustainable statistical capacity in the longer term, to inform and support pro-poor policy making, and programme design. DFID is devoting additional resources to achieve these aims, both bilaterally and multilaterally.

Bilateral debt relief provided on aid loans owed to our Department is given in the context of our development partnership, and monitored in the same way as all other programmes and projects. The Government have recently announced that they will provide 100 per cent. relief on all the bilateral debt owed to the Export Credit Guarantee Department by qualifying HIPC countries. No additional conditionality will be attached to the provision of this relief nor will special efforts be made to monitor its use. We are confident that the conditions of the revised HIPC Initiative are sufficient to guarantee that monies freed up will be spent on poverty reduction.

Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if the British Council will be involved in monitoring the outcome of debt relief measures. [105683]

Mr. Foulkes

The British Council will not be involved in monitoring the outcome of debt relief measures.

Mr. Dobbin

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the countries that will benefit from debt relief, stating(a) by how much in each case and (b) their order of priority. [105235]

Mr. Foulkes

The following 41 countries are classified as Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)Angola, Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Kenya, Lao PDR, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zambia.

To date, debt relief has been provided (in net present value terms) under the HIPC Initiative as follows:

Countries Date $ million
Uganda April 1998 347
Bolivia September 1998 448
Guyana May 1999 256
Mozambique July 1999 1,716

No other country has received debt relief under HIPC to date, and it is not possible to provide figures on what each will receive in the future. Following the revisions agreed last September, the HIPC Initiative will provide faster, deeper and wider debt relief. This will amount to around $50 billion (in nominal terms), which is more than twice as much as under the original framework. The countries listed will receive additional debt relief, and those countries yet to receive relief will be assessed against the new debt sustainability ratios.

Countries not classified as HIPC may nevertheless receive assistance with their debt from the Paris Club of official bilateral creditors. There are a variety of terms which may be offered to a debtor country, in the form of debt reduction for the poorest countries and debt rescheduling.

The Government are pressing for the speedy implementation of the revised HIPC framework. Our target, which was agreed by the international community last year, is for three-quarters of eligible HIPC countries to be receiving relief on their debts by the end of 2000.

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