Project ID: 35826

China Eximbank provides RMB 300 million government concessional loan for Myanmar Section of Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN) Project (Linked to Project ID#96221, 98029)

Commitment amount

$ 70965550.31048256

Adjusted commitment amount

$ 70965550.31

Constant 2021 USD

Summary

Funding agency [Type]

Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank) [State-owned Policy Bank]

Recipient

Myanmar

Sector

Communications (Code: 220)

Flow type

Loan

Level of public liability

Central government debt

Financial distress

Yes

Infrastructure

Yes

Category

Intent

Development (The next section lists the possible statuses.)

Commercial

Development

Representational

Mixed

Financial Flow Classification

ODA-like (The next section lists the possible statuses.)

Official Development Assistance

Other Official Flows

Vague (Official Finance)

Flows categorized based on OECD-DAC guidelines

Project lifecycle

Status

Completion (The next section lists the possible statuses.)

Pledge

Commitment

Implementation

Completion

Suspended

Cancelled

Milestones

Commitment

2007-03-01

Actual complete

2008-03-01

Geography

Description

In July 2005, China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Planning and Construction of a Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN). Then, on February 14, 2006, Myanmar’s Minister for Communications, Posts and Telegraphs Brig-Gen Thein Zaw and China’s Minister for Information Industry Wang Xudong signed an MOU on the Construction of Greater Mekong Information Superhighway Myanmar Section. In March 2007, China Eximbank and the Government of Myanmar signed an RMB 300 million government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for the Myanmar Section of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN) Project. The borrowing terms of the GCL are unknown. However, it is known that the proceeds of the GCL were to be used to finance a commercial (EPC) contract between Myanmar Post and Telecommunications Corporation and Alcatel-Shanghai Bell Co Ltd., which was signed on June 11, 2007. The purpose of the project's Myanmar section was to lay more than 2000 km of fiber optic cable from Muse to Tachilek via Mandalay and Yangon. Phase 1 of the project was complete as of March 2008. Also, in March 2008, a Myanmar–China fiber optic link was built from Kunming to Muse (on the China border) with its link further extended to reach Yangon. However, it is unclear whether/when Phase 2 commenced, and how it was financed. There are some indications that the China Eximbank loan for the Myanmar Section of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN) Project may have financially underperformed vis-a-vis the original expectations of the lender. In 2020, China Eximbank and the Government of Myanmar signed a debt suspension agreement as part of the G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI). Under the terms of the agreement, the lender agreed to suspend principal and interest payments due between May 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 under 3 buyer’s credit loan (BCL) agreements, 6 government concessional loan (GCL) agreements, and 27 preferential buyer’s credit (PBC) agreements (as captured via Project ID#98029). Debt service payments under many of these loan agreements were again deferred in 2021 (as captured via Project ID#96221).

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Myanmar Section of Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Highway Project. The Chinese project title is 大湄公河次区域信息高速公路缅甸项目. The Burmese project title is မဲေခါင္သတင္းအခ်က္အလက္ႏႇင့္ အျမန္ဆက္ေၾကာင္း. 2. The China Eximbank loan that supported this project is not included in the Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020. 3. According to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), the weighted average maturity of all official sector lending from Chinese creditors to government and government-guaranteed borrowing institutions in Myanmar was 14.5376 years in 2007. AidData estimates the maturity of the China Eximbank loan that supported the Myanmar Section of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN) Project by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/s/949n5rctiue6d7c/IDS_Average_grace_period_and_maturity_on_new_external_debt_commitments.xlsx?dl=0 4. According to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), the weighted average grace period of all official sector lending from Chinese creditors to government and government-guaranteed borrowing institutions in Myanmar was 5.56 years in 2007. AidData estimates the grace period of the China Eximbank loan that supported the Myanmar Section of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN) Project by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/s/949n5rctiue6d7c/IDS_Average_grace_period_and_maturity_on_new_external_debt_commitments.xlsx?dl=0 5. According to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), the weighted average interest rate of all official sector lending from Chinese creditors to government and government-guaranteed borrowing institutions in Myanmar was 2.8812% in 2007. AidData estimates the interest rate of the China Eximbank loan that supported the Myanmar Section of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN) Project by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/s/ab8qt4n6jijcbhd/IDS_Average%20interest%20on%20new%20external%20debt%20commitments.xlsx?dl=0

Number of official sources

4

Number of total sources

17

Download the dataset

Details

Cofinanced

No

Direct receiving agencies [Type]

Government of Myanmar (Burma) [Government Agency]

Implementing agencies [Type]

Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd. [State-owned Company]

Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications [State-owned Company]

Loan Details

Maturity

15 years

Interest rate

2.8812%

Grace period

6 years

Grant element (OECD Grant-Equiv)

38.1896%

Bilateral loan

Government Concessional Loan

Investment project loan