Chinese Government cancels RMB 180 million of Government of Niger’s outstanding debt obligations

In June 2001, President Tandja and Prime Minster Hama Amadou attended talks in Beijing, after which the two leaders signed a debt exemption protocol (See: Chinese, Niger Presidents Hail Bilateral Ties (3)). According to a leaked U.S. Embassy cable, under the terms of the protocol, the Chinese Government agreed to cancel some but not all of the Government of Niger’s outstanding debt obligations. The monetary value of the debts that were cancelled in 2001 are unknown. Then, on 29 March, 2007, the Chinese Government and the Government of Niger signed a second debt exemption protocol (See: 3月29日，王超部长助理在京与尼日尔外交、合作和非洲一体化部部长艾莎图·明达乌杜女士举行会谈). The monetary value of the debts that were cancelled in 2007 are also unknown. However, the Government of Niger later reported after the signing of these two debt exemption protocols that the Chinese Government had cancelled approximately RMB 180 million of its outstanding debt obligations (See: Niger-Chine : Une coopération économique et commerciale en plein essor).

Additional details

- For the time being, AidData captures the total debt cancellation of RMB 180 million in a single record; however, if and when it is able to disaggregate the amount of debt that was forgiven in 2001 and 2007, it will create two separate records to capture these two acts of debt forgiveness.This debt forgiveness project is not marked as an umbrella project since our dataset does not capture any loans prior to 2008, so there is no risk of double counting.

Number of official sources

4

Number of unofficial sources

9