Paris Club
This page explains the role of the Paris Club in export credits and how UK Export Finance works with the club.
The Paris Club is an informal group of official creditors (19 countries) which was established in 1956 when debts owed by Argentina had to be renegotiated for the first time. Its main objective is to find a sustainable solution to the payment difficulties of countries who cannot meet their debt repayment obligations, including the repayment of export credit loans guaranteed by member countries, in close collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
The Paris Club holds internal negotiations on principles for handling debt and also negotiates with individual countries on payment postponements or debt reduction.
The UK Government has been a leading proponent of various debt reduction initiatives over a number of years and was influential in achieving the G7 multilateral agreement to enhance the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) initiative. The HIPCs are about 40 of the world's poorest countries with gross domestic product per capita of less than US$765 and which are eligible only for the World Bank's most concessional (low interest) loans. All G7 industrialised nations have agreed to provide 100 per cent debt relief to the world's poorest and most indebted nations.
UK Government policy on international debt is led by the Treasury, which sets policy after consultation with other government departments including the Department for International Development (DfID), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as well as UK Export Finance.
