China Eximbank provides RMB 115.9 million government concessional loan (GCL) for Sierra Leone CDMA Network Project

Project narrative

On December 21, 2006, China Eximbank and Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Finance preferential loan framework agreement with the Government of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Finance. It specified that China Eximbank would provide a preferential loan for this project and its value would not exceed RMB 133 million. Then, on April 10, 2007, the China Eximbank and the Government of Sierra Leone signed an RMB 115,984,112 ($20,169,000) government concessional loan (GCL) loan agreement for the Sierra Leone CDMA Network Project. The GCL carried the following borrowing terms: a 2 percent interest rate, a 5 year grace period, a 20 year maturity, a 1% management fee, and a 0.75% commitment fee. The proceeds of the loan were, in turn, on-lent to Sierratel, a state-owned fixed line telecommunications operator in Sierra Leone. Under the original terms of the loan agreement, the borrower was responsible for making 30, equal, semi-annual principal payments (each year worth RMB 7,732,274.20). The (principal) amount outstanding under the loan was RMB 88,921,200 as of December 31, 2015, RMB 81,188,900 as of December 31, 2016, RMB 73,456,600 as of December 31, 2017, RMB 65,724,300 as of December 31, 2018, RMB 57,992,100 as of December 31, 2019, RMB 50,259,800 as of December 31, 2020, RMB 50,259,800 as of December 31, 2021, and RMB 42,527,500 as of December 31, 2022. The (principal) amount outstanding under the loan was RMB 84,119,922.9 as of December 31, 2025. The purpose of this project was to purchase Huawei’s fixed-wireless telecommunications equipment and thereby help Sierratel install a 3G (Code Division Multiplex Access, or CDMA) network in the country. The project sought to install 100,000 lines in Freetown and 14 other cities. Huawei was the contractor responsible for implementation. The project commenced on April 24, 2009 and it was completed. However, its precise completion date is unknown.