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Outstanding Debt

Volume 455: debated on Monday 15 January 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) how much debt is owed by (a) low and (b) lower-middle-income country governments to the UK through (i) the CDC group and (ii) his Department, broken down by country; (114483)

(2) how much debt relief and cancellation in terms of (a) flow relief and (b) stock cancellation has been granted by the Government since 2004 on debts of (i) low and (ii) lower middle income countries owed to (A) the CDC group and (B) his Department, broken down by country.

The following table shows the debts currently owed by Low Income and Lower Middle Income Countries to the UK through DFID, as well as debt relief and cancellation in terms of flow relief and stock cancellation for these countries. No debt is owed directly by any government to CDC Group plc, which only lends to commercial organisations. However, some loans by CDC to parastatal and quasi-governmental organisations were guaranteed by their governments. Income to CDC and debt relief on these loans are therefore included in the table.

Debts owed by countries to the World Bank on loans financed by the UK and other then-EEC donors in the 1970s are listed separately. DFID receives payments on these loans from the World Bank. The loans reverted to bilateral status in 2005 and those to Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) are being treated in accordance with the UK’s 100 per cent. debt relief policies. All payments by HIPCs to the UK since 2000 on these loans will be returned to them when they complete the HIPC Initiative. The balance of the loans will also be cancelled. Payments returned to HIPCs so far are listed as flow relief since 2004, with loans cancelled recorded as stock cancellation. DFID is in the process of returning payments and cancelling our share of these loans to Malawi and Sierra Leone, which recently completed the HIPC Initiative. We are also in the process of returning payments received from Mauritania.

Debts owed and debt relief given to Low Income and Lower Middle Income Countries

£000

Debt owed

Debt relief

World Bank Loans with DFID as a creditor

Flow relief 2003-04 to 2005-06

Stock cancellation 2003-04 to 2005-06

Reimbursements since 2004 on World Bank loans with DFID as a creditor

Stock cancellation since 2004 on World Bank loans with DFID as a creditor

Country

CDC

3DFID

CDC

3DFID

CDC

3DFID

Low Income Countries1

Bangladesh

4,701

Benin1

64

304

Burkina Faso1

168

813

Burundi2

121

Cameroon1

2,574

Central Africa N. Rep.2

49

Comoros2

71

Congo, Dem. Rep.2

1,568

Congo, Rep.2

489

Cote D’Ivoire2

12,976

1567

663

Ethiopia1

204

1,062

Gambia2

167

Ghana1

4506

1,632

9,050

1,104

121

630

Guinea2

381

Guinea-Bissau2

96

Haiti2

592

India

4,913

Kenya

292

1,450

Laos

274

Lesotho

217

Liberia2

134

Madagascar1

203

1,057

Malawi1

2,886

754

Mali1

211

1,019

Mauritania1

152

Mozambique1

68

Myanmar

1,062

Nepal2

1,105

Nicaragua1

3

Niger1

38

205

Nigeria

5,000

Pakistan

5,672

23,139

Rwanda1

34

175

Senegal1

49

87

413

Sierra Leone2

293

Somalia2

151

Sudan2

1,093

Tanzania1

524

2,302

Togo2

665

Uganda1

455

2017

Yemen

1,102

Zambia1

1,154

2,154

99

526

Zimbabwe

10,144

8,544

Total for low income countries

23,412

9,111

26,276

9,966

2,786

32,189

4,041

2,208

11,429

Lower middle income countries

Colombia

6

Ecuador

8,067

Egypt

3112

3,542

1,218

Guyana1

12,106

59

306

Honduras1

2,519

186

15,371

93

Indonesia

16,622

553

Jamaica

5,906

313,472

5,864

9,257

Jordon

37,072

5,716

Peru

32,958

1,550

Philippines

483

Samoa

29

Solomon Islands

734

Sri Lanka

873

Total for Lower Middle Income countries

22,528

32,170

4,997

2,519

186

21,235

30,674

59

306

1 Countries completed the HIPC Initiative and received 100 per cent. debt cancellation from the UK.

2 Countries progressing through HIPC and will receive 100 per cent. debt cancellation when they reach HIPC Completion Point. Those that have passed Decision Point of the HIPC Initiative receive 100 per cent. flow relief (they make no debt service payments).

3 Debt relief has been given on these debts under Retrospective Term Adjustment (RTA) and the Commonwealth Development Initiative (GDI)-payments are cancelled each year as they become due and the countries are not billed.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been received by the Government from (a) low and (b) lower middle income countries on debts owed to (i) the CDC group and (ii) his Department in 2005-06; and how much is expected to be received in each category in 2006-07. (114484)

No debt is owed directly by any government to CDC Group plc, which only lends to commercial organisations. Some loans by CDC to parastatal and quasi-governmental organisations were guaranteed by their governments, and income to CDC from these loans is recorded in the table. The only income received directly by DFID from a Low Income Country (LIC) in 2005-06 came from Zimbabwe, which has not met the standards of accountability, public financial management and commitment to poverty reduction needed to qualify for debt relief from the UK. No payments are expected from LICs in 2006-07.

Income to the Government from debts owed to DFID and CDC in 2005-06 and expected in 2006-07 is as follows:

£000

Received in 2005-06

Expected in 2006-07

DFID

CDC

DFID

CDC

Low Income Countries

89

28

0

30

Lower Middle Income Countries

3,298

191

1,117

1,985

In addition, £1.852 million was received by DFID in 2005-06, and £1.883 million is expected in 2006-07 from repayments by countries to the World Bank on loans that were originally funded by the UK and other then EEC creditors in the 1970s. The bulk of these loans were to Low Income Countries. Debts held by Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) are cancelled in full when they reach HIPC Completion Point, with any payments made to the UK since 2000 returned to them. The UK is not currently able to provide debt relief on our share of the loans to non-HIPC Low Income Countries as this requires the agreement of all eight creditors. We are continuing discussions and hope to be able to offer debt relief on these loans soon.