Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support unsustainable debt burdens and service payments from countries in Africa.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Supporting developing countries to tackle unsustainable debt is a key development priority of this government. Where we are a creditor, we have fully engaged in debt restructuring negotiations. We welcome recent Common Framework debt agreements with Zambia and Ghana.
We are also focussed on strengthening the system for the future. This means improving debt transparency, strengthening debt management, global implementation of sustainable lending and borrowing practices, and wider roll out of Natural Disaster Clauses which pause debt repayments when a climate or health disaster hits.