Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2004
284 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Finance the efforts he is making through the IMF, the World Bank and elsewhere to bring about a 100% debt cancellation for the poorest countries of the world; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21406/04]
View answerIn July 2002 the Government issued its debt relief strategy, Policy on Developing Country Debt, which was prepared jointly by my Department and Ireland Aid, now called Development Co-operation Ireland. This forms the basis of our policy on the total cancellation of the debt of the world's poorest countries.
The Government has advocated this policy on debt relief in discussions, both at political and senior official level, with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, IMF, Ministers from Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, HIPC, a number of our EU partners and in other fora.
While the Government advocates debt cancellation, it does so in the context of the availability of resources and the competing claims on the resources available to the international financial institutions. Total cancellation would have to be funded largely through additional donor contributions. To mobilise such necessary funds for total debt cancellation, a greater number of donors, particularly the larger economies, would have to increase their overseas development aid, ODA, more rapidly and take concrete steps to meet the UN target of 0.7% of GNP for ODA.
In the spring 2004 meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, acting as chairman of the EU Council of Economic and Finance Ministers, I urged all creditors and donors, that had not yet done so, to provide their share of bilateral debt relief and multilateral financing to the HIPC initiative. My Department, in close co-ordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs, will continue to promote our views on debt relief in all relevant international fora.
