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Aid Conditionality
Andrew George:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what written correspondence he has had with the (a) World Bank, (b) International
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Monetary Fund, (c) European Commission and (d) other G8 members on aid conditionality since March 2005. [44439]
Hilary Benn:
Conditionality is an issue on which I and my officials are in ongoing discussions with a variety of partners, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the EC and other G8 countries. I wrote to the World Bank president in August 2005 regarding the UK's position on the World Bank's Review of Conditionality, this statement is available on the DFID website. DFID officials are engaging with the current evaluation and review of IMF policy conditions by the Independent Evaluation Office, and also meet regularly with the EC. During 2005 there was much written correspondence between senior DFID officials and G8 countries, including on conditionality.
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Debt Relief
Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much annual additional debt relief has been awarded to each of the 19 beneficiary countries as a result of the implementation by the International Monetary Fund of the decision taken at Gleneagles. [45019]
Hilary Benn: In response to the G8's proposals, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved approximately £1.78 billion worth of debt relief to 19 countries under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI). The following table provides estimates of this debt relief by country on an annual basis.
An additional 20 countries will qualify for IMF debt stock cancellation when they reach Completion Point of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.
Mauritania, which has already reached HIPC Completion Point, could also qualify for MDRI relief after certain remedial actions are taken.
Note:
The figures in the table are in United Kingdom Pounds (£). They have been converted from International Monetary Fund data which is given in Special Drawing Rights (SDR). The exchange rates used was 0.82, the mid-market rate as at 10:00 am on 24 January 2006.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what monitoring of the use of (a) bilateral and (b) multilateral aid to the Democratic Republic of the Congo is undertaken by his Department; and if he will make a statement. [44467]
Hilary Benn: Monitoring of the use of aid to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is conducted in accordance with standard DFID procedures that apply across all of the Department's programmes. For our bilateral aid, organisations implementing projects on behalf of DFID are required to submit regular, usually quarterly, financial and narrative reports on their activities. In addition, projects over £1 million require a full review to be undertaken by at least annually with recommendations for actions to maximise impact and a final completion report, including the lessons learned to inform future programming. Regular monitoring by DFID staff, who remain closely in touch with partner organisations throughout the duration of a project, is also an important part of the monitoring process.
All multilateral agencies have their own internal monitoring and evaluation systems and DFID's work on reforming of the international system has included helping to strengthen these systems to deliver results at a country level. An example is DFID's use of the Multilateral Effectiveness Framework to assess the performance of multilateral agencies and make recommendations for improvement. The UK has a seat on the board of multilateral organisations, and so is involved in multilateral decision making including the development and review of country strategies and programmes.
DFID also works jointly with multilateral agencies on many projects. DFID in the DRC works with multilateral agencies and other bilateral donors on justice, infrastructure, humanitarian, police, governance, HIV/AIDS and social sector projects. Working together in this way enables DFID to design, monitor and evaluate these programmes jointly with other donor organisations.
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One of the most important ways in which we monitor multilateral agencies' work is through daily discussion, sharing information and ideas, between DFID staff in the DRC and partners in the European Commission, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations on both the development of their overall strategies for the DRC and the implementation of individual programmes.
External Consultants
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has paid since 2004 to external consultants who had previously been employed by the Department in any capacity within the previous five years. [41197]
Hilary Benn: Since the beginning of 2004, the Department for International Development (DFID) has spent £407,781 on external consultants, who had been previously employed by the Department within the previous five years.
Illiteracy (Africa)
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans he has to tackle adult illiteracy in Africa. [44184]
Hilary Benn: The recent Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring report 'Literacy for Life' highlights the problems many people face through lack of literacy skills in sub-Saharan Africa.
DFID plans to continue supporting the work of NGOs promoting literacy, such as Action Aid and GOAL. We welcome their focus on using literacy to empower women to play a key role in community affairs in addition to the education of their children.
DFID is supporting the UN Decade for Literacy and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (UNESCO) new Literacy for Empowerment (LIFE) programme, through the active participation of DFID specialists and core funding to UNESCO. We have also supported pioneer work by the University of South Africa (UNISA) in training adult educators working in a variety of development sectors. In Kenya, we are supporting research by UNESCO's Institute of Statistics as part of its 'Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme'.
Many countries in Africa are going through the second wave of the poverty reduction strategy (PRS) process. DFID considers this the major vehicle for encouraging African partner governments to invest more in adult literacy programmes through inter-disciplinary programmes.
Iraq
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of the Iraqi population have had access to safe drinking water for each of the past four years. [44442]
Hilary Benn:
The last reliable pre-conflict figures for safe water are for 2000, when urban and rural levels of access to safe water were estimated at 92 per cent. and 46 per cent. respectively. The discriminatory policies of the former regime meant access varied significantly by
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region and was generally worse in the south. Access to safe water deteriorated as a result of the conflict and post-war looting in 2003. The immediate post-conflict coverage was estimated at 60 percent. for urban and 30 per cent. for rural populations. Since then, donors, including DFID, have worked hard to restore supplies, and we estimate that 1.25 million more Iraqis have access to safe drinking water than before the conflict.
The best information we have on safe water supply in Iraq comes from the Iraq living Conditions Survey 2004" conducted by the Iraqi Central Office for Statistics and Information Technology in April/May 2004. This survey can be found at http://www.iq.undp.org/ILCS/overview.htm
In urban areas, 99 per cent. of households have access to safe drinking water but for 33 per cent. the supply is unreliable. In rural areas, 65 per cent. of households have access to safe drinking water, but for 22 per cent. the supply is unreliable.
In most cases, the main barrier to access to safe drinking water is the condition of the pipelines, rather than the water supply itself. This is partly due to the tendency for insurgents to target water, electricity and oil pipelines, as well as the reconstruction staff working to repair them.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the rate of unemployment has been in Iraq for each of the past four years. [44443]
Hilary Benn: No official figures on the Iraqi labour force exist, so only very broad estimates of unemployment are available, and we do not have information broken down by year exactly as requested. An International Labour Organisation (ILO) mission to Iraq in April/May 2000 estimated the unemployment rate as 50 to 60 per cent. The United Nations and World Bank social and economic needs assessments (carried out after the conflict in 2003) estimated that the unemployment rate before the 2003 war had been around 30 per cent.
Current estimates for unemployment vary considerably. The Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004", conducted by the Iraqi Central Office for Statistics and Information Technology in April/May 2004, estimates an unemployment rate of 10.5 per cent. This survey can be found at http://www.iq.undp.org/ILCS/overview.htm The Brookings Institution (Iraq Index, January 2006) estimates the current unemployment rate to be between 28 and 40 per cent., noting varying estimates from the Iraqi Ministry for Planning (30 per cent.) and the Iraqi Ministry for Social Affairs (48 per cent.). In the same report the Brookings Institution gives the following estimates of unemployment rates in previous months:
| Percentage | |
|---|---|
| June 2003 | 50 to 60 |
| January 2004 | 30 to 45 |
| January 2005 | 27 to 40 |
| December 2005 | 25 to 40 |
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Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the infant mortality rate has been in Iraq in each of the past four years. [44444]
Hilary Benn: Estimates of Iraq's infant mortality rate vary. The most detailed information we have on infant mortality rates in Iraq is the Iraq living Conditions Survey 2004" (ILCS) conducted by the Iraqi Central Office for Statistics and Information Technology in April/May 2004. This survey can be found at http://www.iq.undp.org/ILCS/overview.htm This gives information about infant mortality for the period 1999–2003. We do not have a breakdown of the data by year as requested.
For the period 1999–2003, the survey shows the infant mortality rate as 32 deaths per 1,000 births during the first year of life. The rate for girls was 29 per 1,000 for girls and 25 per 1,000 for boys. However, other estimates have reported significantly higher infant mortality rates, and the ILCS report acknowledges that their estimate may be too low because of under-reporting of child deaths.
A 2003 report by Ali, Blacker and Jones (respectively of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and UNICEF), reported the 1998 infant mortality rate as 100.8 deaths per 1,000 births. The UN Population Database (2004 revision) estimated Iraq's infant mortality rate as 94.3 deaths per 1,000 births for the period 1995–2000. They use the same estimate of 94.3 per 1,000 for the period 2000–2005.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the economic growth rate has been in Iraq in each of the past four years. [44445]
Hilary Benn: Under Saddam Hussein's regime between 2001 and 2003, the economy shrank at an average rate of 9 per cent. per annum. After the 2003 conflict the economy recovered, with an initial economic growth rate of 46 per cent. in 2004. In 2005, the Iraqi authorities were successful in promoting macroeconomic stability despite the extremely difficult security environment, and economic growth was a modest 2.6 per cent. These are estimates which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has accepted, but it acknowledges the data quality as poor. In 2006, the IMF predicts an increase in economic growth to 10 per cent., a reduction in inflation, and an increase in net international reserves, advancing Iraq's transition towards a market economy.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the life expectancy at birth has been in Iraq in each of the past four years. [44446]
Hilary Benn: DFID does not have a four year series of figures from the same source; using a variety of sources, the life expectancy at birth in Iraq is reported as follows:
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Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the literacy rate has been in Iraq in each of the past four years. [44447]
Hilary Benn: The best information we have on literacy in Iraq is the Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004" conducted by the Iraqi Central Office for Statistics and Information Technology in April/May 2004. This survey can be found at http://www.iq.undp.org/ILCS/overview.htm.
This tells us that two thirds of the adult Iraqi population; 65 per cent. claim to read and write without difficulty, and an additional 10 per cent. can read and write everyday material with some difficulty. In the younger age groups (aged 15 to 24), literacy rates are slightly higher than for the population at large: 71 per cent. claim to read and write without difficulty. There are significant differences in literacy by region and gender. This compares with adult literacy rates of 86 per cent. in Jordan, 75 per cent. in Syria and 53 per cent. in Yemen.
Accurate figures for previous years are not readily available, since the last population survey took place in 1997.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the school enrolment rates have been in Iraq in each of the past five years for (a) girls and (b) boys, broken down by (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools. [44448]
Hilary Benn: The best information we have on school enrolment rates in Iraq is the Iraq living Conditions Survey 2004" conducted by the Iraqi Central Office for Statistics and information technology in April/May 2004. This survey can be found at:
http://www.iq.undp.org/ILCS/overview.htm. It gives good information for 2004, but we do not have comparable data for the other years requested.
This survey tells us that in 2004, 79 per cent. of primary school age children were enrolled in school (83 per cent. for boys, 75 per cent. for girls). The net enrolment rate in intermediate school (lower secondary, covering ages 13–16) is 41 per cent. (47 per cent. for boys and 36 per cent. for girls). In secondary school (upper secondary, covering ages 16–18) the net enrolment rate is 36 per cent. (40 per cent. for boys, 32 per cent. for girls).
The Arab human development report (2003) estimates the primary school enrolment rate was 100 per cent. for boys and 85.66 per cent. for girls in 1999–2000. The secondary school enrolment rate was estimated at 39.6 per cent. for boys and 26.04 per cent for girls in the same period.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the rate of oil production has been in Iraq in each of the last four years. [44450]
Hilary Benn:
Iraq reached its highest production levels; 3.5 million barrels per day (mbd)—just before its invasion of Kuwait in July 1990, before exports were halted by an international boycott. After the first Gulf War, oil production fell to about 500,000 barrels per day, enough for domestic consumption. (Figures taken
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from the US Congressional Research Service's Report to Congress on Iraq Oil, April 2005.) When the United Nations Oil for Food Programme started in December 1996, oil exports increased, although export levels were sporadic as a result of various disagreements between Iraq, its customers and the United Nations. During 1999 to 2001, production averaged 2.49 mbd and in 2002 Iraq's crude oil production rate was an estimated 2.02 mbd (source: US Energy Information Administration). Since the Second Gulf War, output has varied considerably as security problems and sabotage have disrupted the flow of crude oil to terminals in Turkey and the Persian Gulf; however, prices have remained high.
With 115 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, Iraq has the world's second largest oil reserves, amounting to 11 per cent. of the global total (the largest is Saudi Arabia with 260 billion barrels). Only 17 of 80 oil fields have been developed; the most significant are Kirkuk in the north and Rumayla in the south.
The following table shows rates of oil production in Iraq from 2003–05.
The following table shows actual oil revenues from these exports:
Source:
Brookings Institution, Iraq Index (January 2006)
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