Debts: Developing Countries

(asked on 7th January 2022) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to support an extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative and cancelling debts with the aim of enabling countries to respond more effectively to climate change.


Answered by
John Glen Portrait
John Glen
Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
This question was answered on 14th January 2022

The UK has supported significant action on debt through the G20-Paris Club Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI). Preliminary estimates suggest the DSSI has suspended over $12.7 billion in debt service repayments due by the poorest countries in the world. In April 2021, the G20 and Paris Club endorsed a final extension of the DSSI to the end of 2021.

The DSSI was designed as a short-term initiative to tackle the immediate financing needs of eligible countries. To deliver a longer-term, more sustainable approach to dealing with debt vulnerabilities the UK, along with the G20, also agreed a new Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the DSSI, designed to provide more efficient, equitable and effective debt treatments. The UK is fully committed to implementing the Common Framework in coordination with our international partners. This will support those countries who request a debt treatment in returning to a more fiscally sustainable path and support their development goals, including responding to climate change.

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