Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to provide additional funding in response to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's estimate of a $2 trillion to $3 trillion financing gap for developing counties over the next two years.

The UK has led the way in responding to the economic impact of coronavirus, producing a huge and unprecedented programme of support both for workers and for business in the UK and help to avert the global slowdown that the UN Conference on Trade and Development describes.

There has never been a more important time to deliver our UK aid commitment and we have so far pledged £744 million of UK aid to support the global efforts to combat the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes giving up to £150million to the International Monetary Fund’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust to support vulnerable economies. We also support the suspension of debt repayments from the poorest countries by G20 and Paris Club creditors.

We are helping to prevent the poorest countries from collapse by supporting their economies and access to skills and education. Economic disruption hits the world’s poor the most, and would deepen a global recession, making it harder for all of us to bounce back and prosper.