Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to support the cancellation of debt owed by the world's poorest nations.

HM Government is concerned about the debt vulnerabilities of low-income developing countries, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UK cancelled most of our low-income developing country debt under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. However, we have remained a global leader in advancing sovereign debt transparency and sustainability. In April 2020 the Chancellor joined his G20 counterparts to commit to a temporary suspension on debt service repayments from the 77 poorest countries under the debt service suspension initiative (DSSI). To date, the DSSI has supported 43 countries which have requested suspensions by freeing up $5 billion to fund their COVID-19 responses. Given the depth of liquidity needs in these countries, the UK supports an extension of the DSSI into 2021.

Given the significant pre-existing debt vulnerabilities in many low income countries, in some cases further debt relief will be required after the DSSI. This should be on a case-by-case basis in the context of an IMF programme to ensure it is tailored to need and to facilitate durable economic recovery, with equitable burden sharing among all official and private creditors.