Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 December 2022 to Question 108132, on Somalia: Politics and Government, what taken recent steps his Department has taken to help (a) reduce Somalia’s debt burden and b) unlock finance for service delivery in that country; and what progress his Department has made in achieving those outcomes.

In 2020, the UK was instrumental in Somalia reaching Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Decision Point, enabling it to clear arrears with the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund. This allowed Somalia to receive significant investment in state building, education and health as well as emergency response support. As Somalia's debt relief champion the UK played an important role, using our political capital at the Board of international finance institutions, our influence at capitals of key WB shareholders and creditors, as well as through a bridge loan to the African Development Bank to clear Somalia's arrears. HIPC Decision Point reduced Somalia's debt burden from 95 to 42 per cent of GDP; this is expected to drop to 6 per cent by HIPC completion point.

During my [Minister Mitchell] recent visit to Somalia I [Minister Mitchell] met with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamed, the Somali Finance Minister, and WB and UN representatives to discuss economic reform as well as opportunities for future investment in Somalia.