Chinese Government cancels RMB 50 million of the Government of Angola’s outstanding obligations (linked to #73825)

On 27 December 2007, the Chinese Government and the Government of Angola signed a debt exemption protocol cancelling RMB 50 million (approximately $7 million) of outstanding debt for the Government of Angola owed to the Chinese Government. The Chinese Ambassador to Angola, Zhang Beisan, and the Angolan Minister of Exterior Relations, Manuel Gomes dos Santos, represented their respective governments at the signing ceremony for the agreement. In January 2009, China’s Minister of Commerce Chen Yuan announced that the Chinese Government had cumulatively cancelled RMB 67.38 million of the Government of Angola’s outstanding debt obligations, so the remaining debt forgiveness equal to RMB 17.38 million is captured in linked Project #73825.

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 total sources

6