HC Deb 26 February 2002 vol 380 cc1213-4W
Lynne Jones

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the obstacles are which stand in the way of debt rescheduling that he refers to on page 40 of the Treasury document "Tackling Poverty, A Global New Deal". [37942]

Mr. Boateng

Over the past three years the international community has been working hard to develop a new framework of partnership between the

Suicides1 by English counties2 and former counties, years of occurrence 1998 to 2000
1998 1999 2000 1998–2000
England 4,815 4,828 4,598 14,241
Bedfordshire, former county of 43 60 41 144
Berkshire, former county of 76 72 75 223
Bristol/Bath area 82 82 76 240
Buckinghamshire, former county of 62 54 67 183
Cambridgeshire, former county of 55 57 65 177
Cheshire, former county of 102 97 95 294
Cornwall (and Isle of Scilly) 59 63 63 185
Cumbria 68 63 50 181
Derbyshire, former county of 75 96 90 261
Devon, former county of 119 137 134 390
Dorset, former county of 67 83 71 221
Durham, former county of 60 62 54 176
East Sussex, former county of 90 94 103 287
Essex, former county of 153 127 136 416
Gloucestershire 56 60 57 173
Greater London (Metropolitan County) 734 685 616 2,035
Greater Manchester (Metropolitan County) 297 263 266 826
Hampshire, former county of 157 167 148 472
Herefordshire and Worcestershire 70 91 80 241
Hertfordshire 72 61 65 198
Isle of Wight, former county of 20 17 15 52
Kent, former county of 150 124 147 421
Lancashire, former county of 181 170 162 513
Leicestershire, former county of 77 92 91 260
Lincolnshire 70 68 62 200
Merseyside (Metropolitan County) 141 140 130 411
Norfolk 92 75 74 241
North Yorkshire, former county of 86 61 73 220
Northamptonshire 54 63 43 160
Northumberland 28 34 25 87
Nottinghamshire, former county of 99 101 109 309
Oxfordshire 52 53 54 159
Shropshire, former county of 28 54 43 125
Somerset 43 41 55 139

public and private sectors for preventing and managing balance of payments problems so that all parties that benefit from the international financial system play their part in maintaining stability.

However, the ability of minority creditors to litigate successfully against sovereigns in default is a serious obstacle to debt restructuring, and can exacerbate creditor co-ordination problems. Thus some form of international bankruptcy procedure may be necessary to prevent disruptive litigation by minority credits.

More generally, there is a need to clarify the roles of debtors, creditors and the official sector within the crisis resolution framework, in order to provide the right incentives for creditors to co-ordinate effectively during debt restructuring negotiations.

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