§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development which Third World countries have benefited to date from the cancellation of their debt. [139464]
§ Mr. FoulkesTwelve countries (Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guyana, Honduras, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda) have so far qualified for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. The international community is doing everything possible to bring a further eight countries to their Decision Point by the end of the year. In addition, under the Government's 100 per cent. policy, countries with remaining debts to ECGD and CDC are to receive relief when they qualify for relief under the HIPC Initiative.
Many of the remaining HIPC countries will not qualify for debt relief for some time, mainly because of their involvement in conflict.
A number of other countries have at various points received debt reduction from the Paris Club of official bilateral creditors. Details are contained in the IMF publication "Official Financing for Developing Countries"; a new edition of this is expected shortly.