HL Deb 17 July 2002 vol 637 cc158-9WA
Lord Laird

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 27 May (WA 127) concerning the six occasions on which the United Kingdom deferred payments to the United States Government, when were these occasions; and what was the reason in each case. [HL5183]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

The United Kingdom, as allowed for under the loan agreement, deferred payments on the Second World war debt to the United States Government in 1956, 1957, 1964, 1965, 1968 and 1976. These deferments have occurred after considering the conditions of international exchange and the level of the United Kingdom's foreign currency and gold reserves.

Lord Laird

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether all the war-related debt to the United States from the period of the First World War has been paid off in full; if not, when it will be, and how much the debt was in the first place. [HL5245]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

At the end of the First World War the United Kingdom debt to the United States amounted to around £850 million. Repayments of the debt were made between 1923 and 1931. In 1931 President Hoover of the United States proposed a one-year moratorium on all war debts, which allowed extensive international discussions on the general problems of debt repayment to be held. However no satisfactory agreement was reached, In the absence of such an agreement no payments have been made to, or received from, other nationals since 1934.

At the time of the moratorium the United Kingdom was owed more by other nations (£2,269 billion) than the outstanding principal it owed the United States ($4,368 billion).

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