Debts Written Off
International Development
Gareth Thomas (Harrow West, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much bad debt was written off by his Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.
Alan Duncan (Minister of State, International Development; Rutland and Melton, Conservative)
During the year ended 31 March 2011 DFID's
Annual Report and Accounts wrote off no bad debts, however there was
approximately £23 million written off the value of the Department's loan
book. These were in relation to bilateral and multilateral loans given
by the Department, which were in default and/or which met the criteria
for debt cancellation. The £23 million loan write off is in relation to
loans between the UK Government
and Antigua of £1.7 million, which became eligible for relief when
Antigua qualified for relief under the Commonwealth Debt Initiative. In
addition funding had been provided to the European Investment Bank
to fund loans given by them to both individuals and corporations within
developing countries. In the year under review this portfolio required
to be written down by £20.6 million, based on loans eligible for relief
under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative launched by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. A further write down of £0.7 million was required to a US dollar denominated loan issued by DFID to the International Finance Corporation
for its Global Trade Liquidity Programme, to reflect the movement of
exchange rates and interest from the date of issue to the date of
return.
The Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2012 are still in draft. These will be finalised in early July, at which point they will be published on the DFID external website.
