Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of investments by the Commonwealth Development Corporation has been redirected since January 2020 to supporting the global response to the covid-19 pandemic.

In response to COVID-19 the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) quickly pivoted all of its investment activities to help tackle the economic and healthcare impacts of the pandemic in Africa and South Asia. Since April 2020 100% of CDC's new investment commitments have been approved under its COVID-19 investment response strategy.

This investment response strategy consists of three pillars. First, to preserve the positive development impact of its current investee businesses affected by the crisis by providing additional finance and technical support. Second, to strengthen economic resilience by providing systemic liquidity to keep economies functioning and making targeted investments to increase access to healthcare and basic services. Third, to help rebuild economies and ensure their recovery is sustainable and inclusive by providing long-term patient capital in a counter-cyclical way.

More information on CDC's response to the COVID-19 pandemic can be found on its website - https://www.cdcgroup.com/en/covid-19-response/.