Malawi

Lord Hughes of Woodside Excerpts

Monday 21st May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

My noble friend is quite right to say that these issues need to be addressed, and poor governance is of course the root cause of much poverty. DfID is putting a considerable amount into seeking to address that issue, so that the Government of Malawi can be held to account—not least in the way that they manage their public finances, to which he referred. We are pleased that the new president is now talking to Mozambique about restarting discussions on the energy interconnector, which is encouraging and is important to industry in the area. However, first and foremost, it is important to try to address the economic problems in Malawi. DfID is in constant contact with Malawi, which is also in constant contact with the IMF. An IMF team is there right now.

[Lord Hughes of Woodside]

Is there not common agreement in all quarters of the House that it is essential that our overseas development money is spent efficiently and without corruption? Does the Minister accept that good governance is essential in order for that to be done? Will she therefore make sure that budget support, which is a very important part of good governance, is restored as soon as possible?

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Lord is absolutely right that aid money must be used well, and that is why the general budget support was removed. Until we can be certain that the protections are there, it would not make sense to restore budget support. However, money is going in, meanwhile, in terms of development, and the contribution from DfID to Malawi is as great as ever but is channelled through other routes.