Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the UK’s engagement in international financial institutions on debt relief for African countries facing debt distress.

The UK is committed to working with international financial institutions to address country debt vulnerabilities in a timely and coordinated way, providing swift debt treatments where required.

We progress this work through international fora and mechanisms, including the G20, Paris Club, IMF and World Bank Boards, and the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable (GSDR).

Through the GSDR – jointly convened by the IMF, World Bank and G20 Presidency – we have engaged closely with newer official creditors, private creditors and debtor countries, and discussions have helped to strengthen collaboration and build greater common understanding on debt issues, including the G20 Common Framework.

We fully support the World Bank and IMF’s ‘three pillars’ approach to countries facing liquidity (i.e. short-term payment) challenges. We are pushing the Bank and Fund to accelerate the roll-out in pilot countries and using our voice to encourage others to support

We are also actively engaging in the review of the IMF and World Bank’s Debt Sustainability Framework, pushing for more detailed incorporation of longer-term climate and nature risks and investments.