Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the compatibility of British International Investment’s (BII) £123 million commitment to ABSA Bank with Government policies on financing fossil fuels; and what progress has been made towards excluding fossil fuel related activities from trade finance commitments by BII.

British International Investment (BII)'s support of trade finance facilities - such as Absa Bank's Trade Loan Facility committed to in 2019 - help businesses in developing countries to get access to essential goods including food commodities, inputs for agriculture and raw materials for manufacturing.

All of BII's new investments are aligned with HMG's Fossil Fuel Policy and since 2021 BII has acted to exclude its trade finance capital being used for coal and crude oil trades.