Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of UK aid to developing countries goes towards loan repayments.

The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) provides full relief on eligible debt owed by countries which have reached Completion Point of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank, and the African Development Fund (AfDF) of the African Development Bank. The UK contributed £107 million to the MDRI in 2017 and this is all official development assistance (ODA).

When necessary, the UK also provides relief on loans made bilaterally by the Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) to developing countries, through the coordinated process of the Paris Club of creditors. In 2017 the UK provided £3 million of ODA as such debt relief on ECGD loans.

Therefore in 2017 the total UK debt relief, through the MDRI and bilaterally, represented 0.78% of total UK ODA in 2017.