ICBC provides $85.4 million loan for Port-Gentil Stadium Construction Project

In 2015, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) signed a $85,423,894.20 loan agreement with the Government of Gabon for the Port-Gentil Stadium Construction Project. The loan carries the following terms: a 10 year maturity, a 1.5 year grace period, and an interest rate of 6-month LIBOR + a 3% margin (0.485%+3% = 3.485%). The project involved the construction of a 20,000 seat stadium with a track, two outdoor basketball courts, and three outdoor tennis courts. China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) was the contractor responsible for implementation. A groundbreaking ceremony took place on July 18, 2015. The project was completed in December 2016 and the stadium was inaugurated on September 1, 2017. There are some indications that the ICBC loan for the Port-Gentil Stadium Construction Project may have financially underperformed vis-a-vis the original expectations of the lender. In mid-2014, a decline in international oil prices generated sharp reductions in Gabon’s oil exports and fiscal revenues. The country’s rising fiscal deficit led to the accumulation of arrears to external creditors. By 2017, the stock of the Government of Gabon’s external arrears stood at $115 million, including arrears to China, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, Israel, and South Korea. All of these arrears were successfully cleared by 2020. However, the Government of Gabon accumulated $3 million of additional arrears to Chinese creditors in 2020. By the end of May 2021, ‘the stock of [the Government of] Gabon’s external arrears stood at CFAF 98.03 billion (US$182.1 million), including CFAF 23.8 billion (US$44.2 million) vis-à-vis multilaterals and CFAF 21.05 billion (US$39.1 million) vis-à-vis government agencies and private creditors insured with companies from Paris Club member countries and from China [ICBC and China Construction Bank] CFAF 1.3 billion (US$2.42 million). The Government's strategy for the clearance of existing external arrears consists of focusing primarily on multilateral debt, bilateral debt, insured commercial commitments and seeking agreements with other creditors prior to the IMF Board meeting. Accordingly, we will clear the arrears vis-à-vis the multilaterals. We will also clear bilateral and commercial-insured arrears as follows: (i) Austria CFAF 6.83 billion (US$12.69 million); (ii) France CFAF 11.9 billion (US$22.11 million); (iii) Israel CFAF 2.23 billion (US$4.13 million); and Spain CFAF 0.09 billion (US$0.17 million). Regarding the other commercial arrears vis-à-cis AFREXIMBANK (CFAF 7.52 billion or US$13.97 million, and commercial non-insured vis-à-vis France CFAF 0.7 billion (US$1.24 million), Austria CFAF 8.71 billion (US$16.18 million), and Morocco CFAF 1.01 billion (US$1.87 million), we contacted these creditors individually to obtain from them the non-objection agreement. The same communication was made with China to which our bilateral payment arrears are about CFAF 34.01 billion (US$63.17 million).’ Then, in 2022, the IMF reported that the Government of Gabon’s external arrears to Chinese creditors stood at $23.9 million as of December 2021 and $1 million in June 2022.

Additional details

1. The French project title is Projet de Conception et de Construction du Stade de Port-Gentil. The Chinese project title is 筑承建的加蓬让蒂尔体育场项目 or 加蓬让蒂尔港体育场项目. 2. In the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020, it identifies a $93 million ICBC loan for this project and it does not identify the interest rate of the loan. AidData relies on the face value ($85,423,894) and interest rate (6-month LIBOR + a 3% margin) of the loan that is recorded by the National Assembly of Gabon and the Directorate General of Debt within Gabon’s Ministry of Economy.

Number of official sources

10

Number of total sources

15