§ Lord Steel of Aikwoodasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether their representative on the International Monetary Fund has reported on the demand of the fund that the Government of Malawi should sell grain stocks to repay government debt and the effect this has during the current drought and crop failure in the country. [HL4851]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyIt has not been a requirement of the International Monetary Fund that Malawi government grain stocks be sold to repay debt, nor has the fund had any role in developing such a policy. The fund programme agreed by the government of Malawi contains no conditions in this regard.
In line with the Malawi government food security policy, government publicly included in their letter of intent to the fund in December 2000 their decision to reduce grain stocks to 60,000 tonnes, from 167,000 tonnes. The letter of intent is a broad government policy document and there is no link between such letters and access to fund resources.
These grain stocks were seen as appropriate for a disaster response, which, when coupled with an early warning system, should have allowed time to import necessary food.
However, the Government of Malawi sold all of their food stocks, which has exacerbated the crisis. This sale has recently been under investigation by the National Audit Office, and it is unclear what happened to the proceeds from these sales.
8WAThe Government of Malawi have admitted that the early warning system failed, and the UK Department of International Development is working with others to assist the Government of Malawi in developing a comprehensive long-term national food security strategy.
At the same time, the UK has allocated £13 million to direct support for food import and distribution in Malawi and Zimbabwe, and in addition we have recently committed £45 million for further support through the World Food Programme for NGOs for food distribution and inputs for the next planting season in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland.