China Eximbank provides RMB 173.8 million government concessional loan for Rural Telecommunication Development Project (Linked to Project ID#92446)

On January 23, 2006, China Eximbank and the Government of Kenya signed an RMB 196,000,000 government concessional loan (GCL) agreement [CHINA EXIMBANK No GCL 2006(03)(145)] for the the Rural Telecommunication Development Project. The face value of the loan was subsequently revised to RMB 173,862,577.94. The borrowing terms of the GCL were as follows: a 2% interest rate, a 6.66 year grace period, and a 20.66 year maturity. The loan was scheduled for repayment in semiannual installments between September 23, 2012 and September 21, 2026. The borrower made principal repayments worth RMB 6,954,503.10 between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021 and 13,909,006.24 between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022. The loan’s amount outstanding was RMB 83,454,037.38 as of June 30, 2020, RMB 69,545,031.14 as of June 30, 2021, and RMB 55,636,024.90 as of June 30, 2022. The Government of Kenya’s External Public Debt Register suggests that this loan was rescheduled in March 2021. The project sought to provide wireless communication to all district and divisional government offices, including the procurement of 107 base transceiver stations. It also sought to provide each country's district headquarters with a minimum of 2,000 electricity transmission lines. Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. was the contractor responsible for implementation and the project involved the use of equipment from Chinese companies. Although the Rural Telecommunication Development Project entered implementation, its precise commencement and completion dates are unknown. There are some indications that the China Eximbank government concessional loan for the Rural Telecommunication Development Project financially underperformed vis-a-vis the original expectations of the lender. On March 21, 2021, China Eximbank and the Government of Kenya signed a debt suspension agreement (captured via Project ID#92446). Under the terms of the agreement, the lender agreed to suspend principal and interest payments due during the March 21, 2021-June 30, 2021 period under two government concessional loan (GCL) agreements with outstanding balances: the loan for Phase 1 of the Kenya Power Distribution System Modernization and Strengthening Project and the loan for the Rural Telecommunication Development Project.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Rural Telecommunication Project. The Chinese project title is 农村电信网开发项目 or 肯尼亚农村电信改造项目. 2. The identification number for this China Eximbank loan in the Kenyan National Treasury’s public debt register is 2006008. 3. The amounts outstanding and repayments data are drawn from the Kenyan Treasury’s External Public Debt Register. See https://www.dropbox.com/s/549ixt2gj1jbjvi/External-Public-Debt-Register-as-at-End-June-2022.pdf?dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/s/0et4jg1qfg1bo7r/External-Public-Debt-Register-as-at-End-June-2021.pdf?dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/s/233j706743q7f1g/External-Public-Debt-Register-as-at-End-June-2020.pdf?dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/s/qkoybr9ja0ohemy/External-Public-Debt-Register-as-at-End-June-2009.pdf?dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/s/thy3s6ggjcjd97z/External-Public-Debt-Register-as-at-End-June-2012.pdf?dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/s/fzbfq01vas6m0i9/External-Public-Debt-Register-as-at-End-June-2019.pdf?dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/s/ennrl6d4zd2nizs/External-Public-Debt-Register-as-at-End-June-2018.pdf?dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/s/8ibazrj1a8oho2d/External-Public-Debt-Register-as-at-End-June-2017.pdf?dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/s/wdbjl0wq49i09x1/External-Public-Debt-Register-as-at-End-June-2015.pdf?dl=0

Number of official sources

6

Number of total sources

12