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Treasury

Answer

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proposals for strengthening the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative he will bring forward at the Spring Meetings of (a) the World Bank and (b) the International Monetary Fund. [105094] John Healey: At the forthcoming Spring Meetings the UK will continue to promote a flexible approach to the additional debt relief or `topping-up' that may be provided at Completion Point to ensure that countries that have had to contend with exogenous shocks benefit from a lasting exit from unsustainable debt. The UK will be seeking agreement that the calculation of topping-up should exclude the additional bilateral voluntary debt relief, to ensure fairer burden sharing among creditors and provide truly additional relief to HIPCs. The UK will also be putting forward proposals to encourage greater creditor participation in the HIPC Initiative. However, even the provision of 100 per cent. debt relief to all low-income countries would still fall short of the resources needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals. This is why the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for International Development have proposed an International Finance Facility (IFF) that would seek to double the amount of development aid from just over US$50 billion a year today to $100 billion per year in the years to 2015. The IFF could also be used to help fund further debt relief for existing debts, which for some poor and indebted countries is a valuable instrument to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

105094; 403 c149W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Debts Developing countries Heavily indebted poor countries initiative

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk