TaxPayers' Alliance: "Stop British funding to Argentina"

The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) is calling for the British Government to oppose any further World Bank loans, underwritten by British taxpayers, to Argentina. The pressure group has launched a new campaign with an e-petition on the UK Government's official website and published new research looking at the scale of the funding. British taxpayers' money is supporting loans to Argentina on a substantial scale, over £225 million. This is despite recent attacks from the Argentinian government on British interests, including advocating a boycott of British goods, and disputing the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands. Moreover as a middle-income country, Argentina has no pressing humanitarian need for aid.

Click here for more details about financial assistance to Argentina
See the petition online at StopFundingArgentina.org
 

The TPA is also releasing a video to highlight the petition and to explain how British taxpayers support Word Bank loans to Argentina.
 

Click here or on the image to watch the video 

The text of the petition is as follows:

Stop British taxpayers’ money supporting World Bank loans to Argentina

 

Responsible department: Department for International Development

 

Despite repeated attacks on Britain and the right of Falkland Islanders to remain British, Argentina receives substantial loans from the World Bank, an organisation in which Britain is a major shareholder. But the Government does not use our votes to oppose those loans.

 

The Government has told Parliament that, as of March 2012, total outstanding loans to Argentina from the World Bank were $16.2 billion. That means Britain’s share of the outstanding loans is over £200 million, based on our shareholding in the two World Bank institutions lending to the country.

 

The Obama Administration in the United States has already announced a policy of voting no to any new loans thanks to Argentina’s failure to respect its obligations to earlier lenders. We call upon the British Government to - at the very least - support that and vote against any new World Bank loans to Argentina

Like any e-petition on the government website, if it gets at least 100,000 signatures it will be eligible for debate in the House of Commons.

Click here for more details about financial assistance to Argentina
See the petition online at StopFundingArgentina.org
 

In response to a Parliamentary Question from Priti Patel MP, the Government provided the following information on the outstanding loans to Argentina from two international financial institutions within the World Bank:

“The Inter-American Development Bank currently has outstanding loans to Argentina valued at $10.6 billion. The UK has a 0.96% shareholding at the Inter-American Development Bank."

"The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development currently has outstanding loans to Argentina valued at $5.6 billion. The UK has a 4.5% shareholding at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.”

Outstanding loans from World Bank institutions to Argentina were worth $16.2 billion in March 2012. Based on shareholdings in the two responsible institutions, that implies British taxpayers are responsible for over £225 million in loans to Argentina.

Britain would not be isolated in voting against any new loans to Argentina:

• The Obama Administration in the United States currently has a policy of voting against any new loans, in response to Argentina’s treatment of existing creditors. British representatives could be instructed to support that policy.
• Following the nationalisation of the YPF oil company owned by Spanish firm Repsol, and in response to import restrictions, the European Union has filed a suit against Argentina with the World Trade Organisation. That implies there would be broader support for action.

Britain can and should act to stop further World Bank loans to Argentina. This is a key opportunity to show that our aid policy reflects rather than ignores Britain’s broader national interests.