§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the World Bank's refusal to include(a) Haiti, (b) Bangladesh and (c) Nigeria in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries programme. [130992]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe list of countries eligible for debt relief under HIPC is not fixed, nor does the UK Government regard it as fixed. Any country which is eligible for concessional lending from the IMF and World Bank, which has established a track record of reform and sound programmes and which faces an unsustainable debt burden, beyond available debt relief mechanisms, can qualify for debt relief under the HIPC Initiative. It is then, of course, a matter for the country itself to chose to opt for HIPC debt relief.