Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on levels of transparency of making public the loans made by UK Government and its EU partners to the Global South.

The main UK government agencies involved in lending to developing countries are: UK Export Finance (UKEF) and (historic loans only) the Department for International Development (DfID). Both publish details of the guarantees and loans they provide in their Annual Report and Accounts, which are published on their websites. Where UKEF provides financing for public borrowers or guarantors in developing countries, it is subject to OECD Sustainable Lending Principles.

The UK strongly believes that transparency of loans is an important driver of debt sustainability. Given the complex international nature of sovereign debt, we continue to believe that internationally-agreed approaches are the most effective way to improve sovereign debt transparency and sustainability. We are working with our EU partners, and others, through the G20 to ensure the ongoing implementation of the G20’s agreed Operational Guidelines for Sustainable Financing for official creditors in 2017.