Chinese Government cancels $32 million of the Republic of Congo's outstanding obligations

On July 18, 2007, the Chinese Government and the Republic of Congo signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Brazzaville. The agreement was signed by Congolese Minister of Economy, Finance, and the Pacific Budget, Issoïbeka, and the Chinese Ambassador to Congo, Wo Ruidi. Under the terms of the agreement, the Chinese Government reportedly cancelled 15.6 billion CFA francs ($32 million) of the Republic of Congo’s total outstanding obligations (30.6 billion CFA francs). This cancellation represented 97.5% of the Republic of Congo’s stock of arrears and 22% of the stock excluding arrears. According to a publication from l’Université Marien Ngouabi, this act of Chinese debt forgiveness was completed.

Additional details

SAIS-CARI identifies $64 million as the value of the debt forgiveness that was granted. AidData records the value ($32 million) that is reported by China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). The loans that were forgiven were almost certainly contracted prior to 2000, so this project is not marked as umbrell as there is little risk of double counting. This act of debt forgiveness is identified as separate from the act of debt forgiveness captured in Project ID#334.

Number of official sources

1

Number of total sources

7