Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support African countries whose economies are affected by debt repayments.

Supporting all developing countries -including those in Africa - to tackle unsustainable debt is a key development priority of this government. We are working with all our partners to support sustainable debt and ensure all countries have the fiscal space to invest and grow. Where we are a creditor, we have fully engaged in multilateral negotiations with debtor countries via the Paris Club and G20 Common Framework mechanisms to put their debt back on a sustainable trajectory.

We welcome the G20 Common Framework debt agreements with Zambia and Ghana achieved last year but recognise these treatments took too long. We are therefore calling for efforts to strengthen, speed up and expand the Common Framework to all low and middle-income countries, whilst also building the enabling environment for more sustainable and transparent lending and strengthened public financial management. The Chancellor has recently announced the London Coalition on Sustainable Debt to progress these objectives with the private creditors.