Chinese Government cancels 470 million RMB of the Government of Sudan’s outstanding obligations (Linked to #85348)

On 2 February 2007, at the Friendship Hall in Khartoum, Sudan, Sudan's President Umar al-Bashir and China's President Hu Jintao signed a debt exemption protocol, which cancelled two sets of interest-free loans: one denominated in RMB and the other denominated in USD (See: UNITED NATIONS MISSION IN SUDAN UNMIS Media Monitoring Report). The Chinese Government reportedly forgave 470 million RMB and an additional $19 million USD (see Project #85348) of the Government of Sudan’s outstanding obligations.

Additional details

China made a concerted effort in 2007 to forgive the debt from interest-free loans maturing by the end of 2005 to heavily-indebted African countries (http://kp.china-embassy.org/chn//zgxw/zgzxxw/t293317.htm). Since interest-free loans usually have 20 year maturities (http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2011-04/21/content_1850553.htm), we have assumed the loans included in this debt forgiveness package would have been contracted before 2000. As such, this project is not marked as umbrella, as there is little risk of double counting.

Number of official sources

3

Number of unofficial sources

8