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Overseas Aid: Energy

Volume 461: debated on Monday 11 June 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether any of the funding provided by his Department to the World Bank in each of the last three years was allocated to the energy sector. (140747)

The World Bank's fiscal year runs from 1 July to 30 June each year. For fiscal year 2004 (starting 1 July 2003) the Bank lent $1.05 billion for energy projects. This amount increased to $1.9 billion in fiscal year 2005 and $3.1 billion in fiscal year 2006. Figures are not yet available for Fiscal Year 2007.

The UK has provided £1.65 billion in core contributions to the World Bank's International Development Association since 1 April 2003. Annual payments from the UK and other bank shareholders are just one source of finance drawn upon by the bank to provide loans and credits to developing countries. Therefore, it is not possible to say precisely what proportion of the UK's contribution was spent on energy programmes, but it is highly likely that some of it was allocated to the energy sector.

At the Gleneagles summit in 2005, the UK secured G8 agreement that the World Bank should lead on establishing a new clean energy investment framework (CEIF) that would operate across the international financing system. The aim of this framework is to accelerate and catalyse public and private sector investments in cleaner energy in developing countries.