But it is called a bank and the understanding is that a substantial proportion of its resources will be deployed on a commercial basis. The criterion in article 14 is the commercial basis of its loans.

If we want to give those countries money, let us have the intellectual and political honesty to say that we are giving them a loan. The hon. Member for Cynon Valley (Mrs. Clwyd) mentioned ecology, impure water and environmental aspects. As a business man or as an hon. Member voting my taxpayers' money for loans, I do not see how we will get a return. Setting up the bank may be a wonderful thing to do, but let us be honest and say, "We will not get a return on that investment." If we are giving the money or lending it only to write it off five years later in changed circumstances, let us recognise that reality from the beginning.

If we fail to do so, we run the danger of doing exactly what we and the commercial sector have done with the United Nations and numerous other multilateral fund agencies—lending money only for everyone to say, "Write off their debts," without any understanding of what that means for future indebtedness. It has a major impact on the willingness of banks and multilateral agencies to lend money in the future. It simply increases the cost of any loan made to developing countries. We should be honest from the beginning: we should work out whether we are giving money away, lending money or investing risk capital.