April 8, 2012 8:00 pm
UK seeks repayment of Falklands era loan
Britain is chasing £45m of debt owed by the Argentinian government that was lent to the country’s military junta in 1979 and used, in part, to buy weapons that were later used to invade the Falkland Islands.
UK Export Finance, an arm of Vince Cable’s business department, inherited the debt after Argentina defaulted on loans to British exporters, which were underwritten by the UK government at the time.
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The goods supplied by those exporters included two Lynx helicopters and two Type 42 warships, which were used in the Falklands invasion. One of the helicopters was among the first to arrive on the British territory after the initial Argentinian landing 30 years ago last week.
Debt campaigners are calling on Mr Cable to stick to his Liberal Democrat party’s official policy of cancelling debt “that was recklessly given to dictators known not to be committed to spend the loans on development”.
But a spokesman for the business department told the Financial Times: “The government has no plans to offer debt forgiveness.
“If Argentina requires further debt relief to that already agreed, it should approach the Paris Club [the intergovernmental body that agrees debt relief], which is responsible for addressing these matters on behalf of all official creditors on a multilateral basis.”
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/d194ee1c-7d6f-11e1-bfa5-00144feab49a.html#axzz1reXVVkIH
UK Export Finance, an arm of Vince Cable’s business department, inherited the debt after Argentina defaulted on loans to British exporters, which were underwritten by the UK government at the time.
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d194ee1c-7d6f-11e1-bfa5-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1reXzb9d1
The goods supplied by those exporters included two Lynx helicopters and two Type 42 warships, which were used in the Falklands invasion. One of the helicopters was among the first to arrive on the British territory after the initial Argentinian landing 30 years ago last week.
Debt campaigners are calling on Mr Cable to stick to his Liberal Democrat party’s official policy of cancelling debt “that was recklessly given to dictators known not to be committed to spend the loans on development”.
But a spokesman for the business department told the Financial Times: “The government has no plans to offer debt forgiveness.
“If Argentina requires further debt relief to that already agreed, it should approach the Paris Club [the intergovernmental body that agrees debt relief], which is responsible for addressing these matters on behalf of all official creditors on a multilateral basis.”
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/d194ee1c-7d6f-11e1-bfa5-00144feab49a.html#axzz1reXVVkIH
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