China Eximbank provides RMB 310 million government concessional loan for Mpila Social Housing Construction Project (200 Units)

On March 29, 2013, China Eximbank and the Republic of Congo signed an RMB 310 million government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for the Mpila Social Housing Construction Project (200 Units). This loan reportedly carried a 20-year maturity and a 5-year grace period. The project involved the construction of 200 housing units in the Mpila neighborhood within the capital city of Brazzaville. Beijing Construction Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (BCEG) was the contractor responsible for implementation. Construction began in August 2013 and was completed on June 30, 2015. There are some indications that the China Eximbank loan for the Mpila Social Housing Construction Project (200 Units) may have financially underperformed vis-a-vis the original expectations of the lender. In 2020, China Eximbank and the Republic of Congo 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 multiple buyer’s credit loan (BCL) agreements and multiple government concessional loan (GCL) agreements (as captured via Project ID#95566 and ID#95571). Debt service payments under many of these loan agreements were again deferred in 2021 (as captured via Project ID#95573, 95572, 95570, and 95568). The IMF assessed the Republic of Congo to be in debt distress in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Additional details

1. The French project title is Construction 200 Logements MPILA. The Chinese project title is 姆皮拉200套社会住房项目 or 布拉柴皮拉区200套住宅 or 刚果共和国皮拉住宅一期项目 or 刚果共和国皮拉住宅项目 or 皮拉300套社会住宅项目. 2. There is some disagreement among sources about whether this project support the construction of 200 or 300 housing units. 3. This project is separate from the $54,800,000 China Eximbank loan in 2015 for the 264 Mpila Social Housing Units Construction Project. 4. 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 the Republic of Congo was 1.4846% in 2013. AidData estimates the interest rate of the China Eximbank loan that supported the Mpila Social Housing Construction Project (200 Units) 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

8

Number of total sources

15