§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list(a) the countries eligible for debt relief under the heavily indebted poorer countries initiative whose debt repayments to the United Kingdom are now being held in trust, (b) the amount of money held in trust in respect of each such country and (c) the level of debt outstanding to the United Kingdom from each such country. [18387]
§ Mr. BoatengSince the Chancellor made the announcement on 2 December, the following countries have made payments that are eligible for the hold in trust policy:
886W
Country Payments held in trust (£000) Amount of debt (£ million) Burkina Faso 64.9 1.0 Central African Republic 2.4 0.5 Ethiopia 60.9 15.4
Country Payments held in trust (£000) Amount of debt (£ million) Guinea 91.7 5.3 Vietnam 730.5 54.4 Yeman 106.8 3.3 Ethiopia and Guinea have since reached their Decision Point, where they are no longer required to make payments to the UK. Burkina Faso had reached Decision Point before December 2000, but interim relief has been suspended. Payments from Burkina Faso will continue to be held in trust.
The following countries have reached a Decision Point since the Chancellor made the announcement, but prior to Decision Point did not make any payments for holding in trust. Now that they have reached a Decision Point, they are all receiving 100 per cent. debt relief and are no longer required to make any payments to the UK.
£ million Country Amount of debt Chad 0 Gambia 0 Guinea Bissau 0 Madagascar 25.5 Malawi 3.9 Nicaragua 1.0 Niger 10.9 Rwanda 0.1 Sao Tome and Principe 0 Zambia 239.2 The following countries have not yet reached a Decision Point under HIPC, and any payments they do make will be held in trust:
£ million Country Amount of debt Angola 118.6 Burma 23.1 Burundi 0 Congo 143.1 Cote D'Ivoire 48.0 DR Congo 165.5 Ghana 216.7 Kenya 52.9 Laos PDR 0 Liberia 18.4 Sierra Leone 3.6 Somalia 29.2 Sudan 374.9 Togo 15.7
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his policy on the treatment of interest earned on money paid as debt service payments by highly indebted poor countries to the United Kingdom and currently held in trust by the Government. [18386]
§ Mr. BoatengMoney that is held in trust will be returned when the proceeds can be shown to go towards poverty reduction. At that point, the UK will return all payments made since 1 December 2000. The commitment of the Chancellor's speech on 2 December 2000 was that the UK will not benefit financially from these historic 887W debts and as such, all payments made will be returned to fund poverty reduction and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in HIPC countries.