HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : UK to provide up to $10 million to help relieve debt burden of Mozambique [February 1998]
The press release issued by HM Treasury on 17 February 1998.
The Government has announced that it is willing to make a supplementary contribution of up to $10 million towards relieving the debt burden of Mozambique.
The announcement, made by Chancellor Gordon Brown and Secretary of State for International Development Clare Short, follows a meeting today with James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, the Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, the Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool Patrick Kelly, David Bryer from Oxfam and Sir Humphrey Maud, Deputy Director General of the Commonwealth Secretariat.
The Ministers commented:
” This Government is determined to work together with other countries, the World Bank and other international institutions to help deal with the proportion of the world’s population which is living in extreme poverty. The top priority is to deal with the most needy and deserving debtor countries as fast as possible. Mozambique has a strong track record of economic reforms yet still faces a growing debt burden. The Government is willing to make a contribution of $10million as part of a solution towards filling the $100million gap left by the Paris Club which will help give Mozambique the fresh start it so badly needs.”
It is important that the international community meet the target set out in the Mauritius Mandate statement that all eligible poor countries should have at least have embarked on the process of securing a sustainable exit from their debt problem by the year 2000.
The UK, working with the World Bank and other creditors, is seeking to put together an exceptional package which will provide the level of debt relief provisionally agreed for Mozambique by the World Bank and IMF Boards late last year. The need for such a package was a result of the Paris Club’s decision in January to provide $170million of its $270million share of debt for Mozambique, leaving a gap of $100million.
The Chancellor will keep the issue of debt relief, and particularly the consequent funding arrangements, before G7 and EU colleagues. The Birmingham Summit will consider the issue as part of the wider development agenda.
