asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Clydesdale (Dame J. Hart) on 11 March, Official Report, column 186, what proportion of the total aid programme in each year since 1979 has been represented by conversion of loans into grants under the policy of retrospective terms adjustment.

The cost of measures set out in the Official Report on 11 March 1987, at column 186, in respect of the policy of retrospective terms adjustment, as a proportion of gross public expenditure on aid, has been as follows:

	Per cent.
1979	3·4
1980	5·8
1981	5·9
1982	5·0
1983	7·0
1984	6·3
1985	5·9

These figures include exceptional debt relief measures in respect of Bangladesh and Uganda which fall outside retrospective terms adjustment agreements with these countries.