§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they would consider a request by the Government of Montserrat for help with the repayment of loans owed by the Montserrat Development Bank for port expansion, mortgages and student loans. [HL3452]
§ The Secretary of State for International Development (Baroness Amos)DfID already has assisted Montserrat with the handling of government loans, 61WA and continues to do so. Since the onset of the volcanic crisis, the island government have encountered difficulty in servicing outstanding debt. We assisted initially in support of their case, which secured Caribbean Development Bank agreement to a moratorium on repayments. Since December 2001, when the moratorium ended, we have contributed to the partial write-off of a loan for port expansion and helped with full repayment of some other debts. The Caribbean Development Bank has since confirmed Montserrat's renewed eligibility for some concessional finance and has restructured some 7.2 million United States dollars of remaining debt. This includes lines of credit, managed by the Bank of Montserrat on behalf of the Government of Montserrat, some of which has been on-lent for mortgage purposes.