Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to leverage private sector participation in the G20 debt relief initiative.

The Chancellor and his G20 counterparts called upon private creditors to participate in the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) on comparable terms to the official sector on a voluntary basis.

The G20 agreed a voluntary approach to private creditor participation partly due to concerns about borrowers’ long-term financing needs. It is important that developing countries do not see their access to international capital markets become too costly or restricted as mobilising private finance will be essential for crisis recovery and long-term sustainable development.

HM Government is working closely with Institute of International Finance (IIF) and UK-based private creditors to support implementation of comparable debt service suspensions. We welcome the recently released IIF Terms of Reference to support their members’ engagement with eligible borrowers.

HM Government will continue to monitor implementation of the DSSI by private lenders under this voluntary framework closely, as it is important that all creditors work together to help enable countries especially vulnerable to the pandemic to protect their citizens and economies.