HC Deb 19 December 2003 vol 416 cc114-5W
Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what guarantees the Export Credits Guarantee Department has issued to each heavily indebted poor country in each year since 1997; what the(a) value and (b) project type was in each instance; and what the total outstanding debt owed by each country is (i) in total and (ii) broken down by (A) amounts at risk, (B) unrecovered claims and (C) moratorium interest accrued on the unrecovered claims. [144834]

Mr. Mike O"Brien

[holding answer 18 December 2003]: Since 1997 ECGD has only supported business in three Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, namely Vietnam, Ghana and Tanzania. Vietnam is a sustainable HIPC requiring no debt restructuring since the early 1990s. Ghana, until relatively recently, was also regarded as a sustainable HIPC but is now benefiting from HIPC debt treatment. Tanzania reached its Completion Point in December 2001 and all historic debt was written off by the UK. The business supported was as follows:

  • 1997 Vietnam—Aircraft, value £21 million.
  • 115W
  • 1998 Vietnam—Paper Mill Equipment, value £6 million.
  • 1999 Vietnam—Coal Fired Power Plant, value £24 million.
  • 1999 Vietnam—Investment in Sugar Refinery, value £16 million.
  • 1997 Ghana—Capital Equipment and Related Services, value £7 million.
  • 1997 Ghana—Waste Water Project, value £17 million.
  • 1997 Ghana—Road Project, value £14 million.
  • 1998 Ghana—Capital Equipment and Related Services, value £6 million.
  • 1999 Ghana—Kotoka airport project, value £19 million.
  • 2000 Tanzania—Investment in Water and Sewerage Contract, value £2 million.

The future amounts at risk on Ghana, Vietnam and Tanzania are £61 million, £23 million and £1 million respectively.

Outstanding balances on heavily indebted poor countries" rescheduled sovereign debt as at December 2003
All values in £ million
Market Unrecovered claims Capitalised interest Arrears of interest Total rescheduled debt
Angola1 51.483 4.437 71.744 127.664
Cameroon 27.081 32.561 0.000 59.642
Central African Republic 0.161 0.163 0.037 0.361
Congo 58.076 82.268 19.497 159.841
Cote D"Ivoire 6.435 9.567 0.137 16.139
D.R. Congo 16.304 52.728 0.000 69.032
Ethiopia 11.174 0.460 0.007 11.641
Ghana 45.682 0.821 0.000 46.503
Guinea 0.932 2.824 0.000 3.756
Guyana 11.638 21.218 0.000 32.856
Kenya1 16.522 2.337 0.000 18.859
Liberia 6.229 0.000 14.176 20.405
Madagascar 11.822 11.607 0.000 23.429
Malawi 0.353 0.007 0.000 0.360
Nicaragua 0.368 0.588 0.000 0.956
Niger 3.745 4.135 0.000 7.880
Senegal 0.666 0.693 0.000 1.359
Sierra Leone 0.957 2.435 0.000 3.392
Somalia 11.461 3.694 16.370 31.525
Sudan 91.643 33.094 405.718 530.455
Togo 9.113 5.206 4.869 19.188
Vietnam1 5.683 4.422 0.000 10.105
Zambia 68.949 94.040 0.000 162.989
Totals: 456.477 369.305 532.555 1,358.337
1 indicates that this is a Sustainable HIPC. All other markets are Unsustainable HIPCs.