§ Mr. Laurence RobertsonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to provide debt relief to Ethiopia; what recent discussions he has had with international organisations about providing debt relief to Ethiopia; and if he will make a statement. [83153]
§ John HealeyThe UK is already providing 100 per cent, debt relief to Ethiopia. As a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Ethiopia is eligible for debt relief under the enhanced HIPC initiative. In November 2001 Ethiopia reached Decision Point under the initiative and qualified for interim debt relief on payments due. For its part the UK goes further than is required under the terms of the HIPC initiative and always provides 100 per cent, debt relief. The UK Government are working with other donors, the World bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help Ethiopia reach Completion Point under the HIPC initiative.
At that point debt will be irrevocably cancelled. To reach Completion Point Ethiopia will need to have demonstrated a clear commitment to poverty reduction, and show how its country-owned poverty reduction strategies will be able to use the resources released by debt relief to reduce poverty. The IMF and World bank estimate that Ethiopia could reach Completion Point as early as July 2003.