Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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195. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will ask the Africa Development Bank, World Bank and IMF to release all information and evaluations of loans which contributed to Zimbabwe's sovereign debt; and if they will support and co-operate with an official, independent debt audit if one is undertaken by Zimbabwe. [27584/13]

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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196. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will work to put the debt cancellation needs of southern countries higher on the World Bank and IMF agenda; if he will support immediate debt write downs for countries with high levels of debt distress; if he will support debt audits where questionable loans are being repaid and work for internationally agreed fair and responsible lending and borrowing practices in future. [27585/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 195 and 196 together.

As a member of the World Bank and the IMF, Ireland has played a strong role in the development of a consensus regarding the debt position of the least developed countries. At an international level, Ireland has been strongly supportive of the full implementation of debt relief and, where appropriate, debt cancellation.

Ireland has contributed its full financial share of over €116m to the two main multilateral initiatives to address debt relief in the developing world, the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) and the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. The MDRI came into effect on 1 July 2006 and provides for cancellation of eligible debt from the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund for many of the world’s poorer and most indebted countries. The HIPC initiative, which is implemented by the World Bank and the IMF, was launched in 1996 in order to reduce the debt burden of qualifying countries to sustainable levels but does not involve cancellation of debt. The aim of these initiatives is to relieve these countries from the burden of servicing debt and assist them in making progress on the UN Millennium Development Goals, with the overall objective of halving global poverty by 2015. Ireland will remain actively engaged in ensuring that international commitments to dealing with the debt burden on developing countries are met.

In relation to Zimbabwe, I understand that it has substantial debt arrears but that the relative political stability of recent years and the adoption of economic reforms has created a climate conducive to ongoing re-engagement and support on the part of the multilateral agencies and international financial institutions including in the areas of debt audit and loan evaluations. Although Zimbabwe is in arrears on its concessional borrowings from the IMF, the IMF recently restored Zimbabwe’s eligibility for technical assistance. The World Bank, the Board of which recently approved re-engagement with Zimbabwe, has also been working with Zimbabwe alongside other development partners such as the African Development Bank.

Ireland was represented at a meeting in London earlier this year of the informal international group known as the “Friends of Zimbabwe”. The communiqué of that meeting recognised the importance of Zimbabwe tackling its external debts and welcomed progress by the Government of National Unity and the IMF towards a Staff Monitored Program. Any such program would of course include analysis of Zimbabwe’s debt sustainability.