China Construction Bank provides loan for Phase 1 and 2 of Helicopter Acquisition Project

In April 2019, the Government of Equatorial Guinea and China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC) signed a commercial contract for Phase 1 and 2 of the Helicopter Acquisition Project. The contract was signed by Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of National Defense Alejandro Bacale Ncogo and CATIC Vice President Sun Zhewei. China Construction Bank (CCB) subsequently issued a loan to the Government of Equatorial Guinea and authorized the borrower to use the proceeds of the loan to finance the April 2019 commercial contract with CATIC. The monetary value of the commercial contract with CATIC is unknown. However, it is known that the purpose of the project was to facilitate the acquisition of helicopters and provide human resource training. The loan from CCB carried an unknown interest rate and an estimated maturity of 8 years. The loan’s (principal) amount outstanding was CFA 63,214,190,000 as of 2020, 53,732,070,000 as of 2021 and CFA 56,658,816,643 as of June 30, 2022.

Additional details

1. The Spanish project title is Proyecto CATIC. 2. There are some indications in the publications of Caja Autónoma de Amortización de la Deuda Pública that a CATIC supplier’s credit may have initially been issued for the Phase 1 and 2 of the Helicopter Acquisition Project, and then converted into a China Construction Bank loan. This issue warrants further investigation. 3. A final maturity date of 2027 is implied in Annex 1 of the following Caja Autónoma de Amortización de la Deuda Pública publication: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1xbezag5itb5wq3/Informe-Economico-de-la-Deuda-2021-definitivo.pdf?dl=0 4. There are some indications that the helicopters may have been used for military rather than civilian defense purposes. This issue warrants further investigation. 5. The face value of the China Construction Bank loan is unknown. For the time being, AidData relies upon the highest (principal) amount outstanding figure as a proxy. This issue warrants further investigation.

Number of official sources

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Number of total sources

7