Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether debt relief for Somalia will be counted as Official Development Assistance in (a) 2023-24 and (b) future financial years.

The UK continues to be Somalia's debt relief champion, as part of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC). The UK provided debt relief when Somalia reached HIPC Decision Point in 2020, both bilaterally and helping to clear arrears to the International Financial Institutions.

The UK is committed to providing debt relief on our outstanding bilateral debt to Somalia when it reaches HIPC Completion Point and the relevant agreements signed. The IMF assess HIPC Completion Point to be achievable by the end of 2023.

Debt relief to Somalia will be officially recorded as Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) under the OECD Development Assistance Committee's rules. His Majesty's Government has provisioned for this.