China Eximbank provides $9.787 million loan for Caculama Municipal Hospital Construction and Equipping Project (linked to #34030, #34841)

On 19 July, 2007, China Eximbank and the Government of Angola signed a $500 billion Master Loan Facility Agreement (MLFA). All of the subsidiary buyer’s credit loans approved through this MLFA carried the following terms: an interest rate of 3-month LIBOR plus a 1.5% margin (or 6.86% at the time that the MLFA was signed), a 22 year maturity period, and 5 year grace period (see Project ID#34030). Under this MLFA, China Eximbank and the Government of Angola signed a $9,787,500.00 subsidiary buyer’s credit loan agreement for the Caculama Municipal Hospital Construction and Equipping Project. The proceeds of this loan were used to partially finance a $10,875.000.00 commercial contract with Sinohydro (See: UNCOVERING AGENCY: ANGOLA’S MANAGEMENT OF RELATIONS WITH CHINA, p. 291).This project supported the transformation of the Caculama (Kangulama) Health Center in Malanje (Malange) Province into the Caculama Municipal Hospital. According to Sinohydro, the project commenced on 9 March, 2006 and concluded on 16 April, 2010 (See: Malanje Rehabilitation Center (completed project)).The Caculama Municipal Hospital should not be confused with the General Hospital of Malanje (Malanje National Hospital), which is also located in located in Caculama and was also constructed by SinoHydro (see Project ID#34796). Rather, the Caculama Municipal Hospital serves to relieve traffic at the general hospital.The initial construction of the Caculama (Kangulama) Health Center was also supported by a China Eximbank loan in 2005 (see Project ID#34841).

Additional details

The Portuguese project title is Hospital Municipal de Caculama.In July 2020, AidData asked Dr. Lucy Corkin, a leading expert on Chinese lending to Angola, whether the second, third, and fourth master loan facility agreements (MLFAs) that the Angolan Government signed with China Eximbank in 2007 and 2009 were structured as a buyer’s credit loans like the first MLFA that the Angolan Government signed with China Eximbank in 2004. Dr. Corkin noted that the second, third and fourth MLFAs were treated more like ceiling increases to the initial facility. Therefore, for the time being, AidData categorizes the second, third, and fourth MLFAs as buyer's credit loans. Sinosure is also assumed to be involved in this loan facility as the 2003 framework agreement (中华人民共和国商务部与安哥拉共和国财政部关于两国经贸合作特殊安排的框架协议) specified that Sinosure will be signing relevant agreements with the Government of Angola, although the nature of the agreements is unclear.AidData considers this loan to be collateralized in a de facto sense. The cash desposited by the Angolan Ministry of Finance into a bank account controlled by China Eximbank is, for all intents and purposes, a source of collateral. This is true even if the lender does not have a formal security interest in the account.

Number of official sources

3

Number of unofficial sources

5