CDB provides $200 million loan to replenish Tanzania's foreign exchange reserves

Between May and June 2015, the value of the Tanzanian shilling against the US dollar entered a freefall. In response, in June 2015, China Development Bank (CDB) and the Government of Tanzania's Ministry of Finance and Planning signed a $200 million term loan facility agreement to replenish the country's foreign exchange reserves. The loan was reportedly provided on non-concessional terms (including a 5.9948% interest rate, a 7.25 year maturity, and a 3.25 year grace period). According to Government of Tanzania records, at least TZS 512.1 billion — approximately $256 million — was ultimately disbursed through the loan.

Additional details

1. 512.1 billion Tanzanian shillings (TZS) was worth almost exactly $256 million using the 1 TZS = .0005 U.S. dollars (USD) exchange rate in June 2015. 2. This CDB loan is not included in the SAIS-CARI database of Chinese loan commitments that was released in July 2020. Nor is it included in the the Chinese Overseas Development Finance Dataset published by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center in December 2020. AidData includes the loan in its dataset because the Tanzanian Government acknowledges that it contracted the loan and it is recorded in the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS). 3. Some potentially useful information is reported here: http://www.nao.go.tz/?wpfb_dl=210. 4. The loan's borrowing terms (a 5.9948% interest rate, a 7.25 year maturity, and a 3.25 year grace period) are drawn from the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (see https://www.dropbox.com/s/ab8qt4n6jijcbhd/IDS_Average%20interest%20on%20new%20external%20debt%20commitments.xlsx?dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/s/949n5rctiue6d7c/IDS_Average_grace_period_and_maturity_on_new_external_debt_commitments.xlsx?dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/s/2sw4f7gluxa52fk/DRS%20Official%20Commitments%20from%20China%20Through%202021.xlsx?dl=0).

Number of official sources

7

Number of total sources

13