Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On July 12, 2022, the Government of Guyana and China CAMC Engineering Company Limited signed an EUR 136,132,800 deferred payment (seller’s credit) agreement for the Regional Hospitals Project. The loan carries the following borrowing terms: a 9 year maturity, a 2.5 year grace period, a 2% interest rate, and a 5% default (penalty) interest rate. The borrower is responsible for making 14 semi-annual repayments over 7 years (on January 10 and July 10 of each year during the loan’s repayment period) between January 10, 2025 and July 10, 2031. The loan is backed by a Sinosure credit insurance policy. The borrower is expected to use the proceeds of the loan to finance 80% of the cost of six commercial contracts (for Lots 1-6 of the Regional Hospitals Project) between Guyana's Ministry of Health and China CAMC Engineering Company Limited. The purpose of the project is to construct six hospitals in five regions: one in Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam); one at De Kinderen, Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara); one at Diamond and another at Enmore, in Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica); one in Bath, Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice); and one in Number 75 Village, Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne). Each modern hospital is expected to be equipped with 75 beds. The paediatric and maternal hospital at Ogle is expected to be equipped with 256 beds. The project will also seek to ‘reduce the undue cost and burden of referrals to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC)’. China CAMC Engineering Company Limited is the EPC contractor responsible for project implementation. On March 6, 2023, the Guyana Ministry of Health announced that the foundations were laid for the hospitals and work was expected to be complete by the end of 2024. Subsequently, the ministry noted that the equipping of the facilities and their upgrading to operational capacity will be complete by early 2025. On May 9, 2023, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the construction of the project by Sinomach subsidiary China CAMC Engineering Company. Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali and Chinese Ambassador to Guyana Guo Haiyan attended the ceremony.
Staff comments
1. The loan (deferred payment) agreement for Lot 3 (Diamond, Region 4) can be accessed in its entirety via https://www.dropbox.com/s/ob8tc2bndqwtfff/Guyana%202022%20China%20CAMC%20Engineering%20Co%20Deferred%20Payment%20Agreement%20for%20Regional%20Hospitals%20Project%20Lot%203.PDF?dl=0. 2. In a typical receivables financing agreement (or deferred payment agreement), the company that the project owner in the host country has selected as its engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor is also a lender to the project owner. The company assigns receivables under its EPC contract with the project owner to one of or more banks. Upon assignment of receivables, the bank or banks will release funds to the company so it can discharge its obligations under the receivables financing agreement as a lender. Receivables financing is also known as accounts receivable financing (finance) or A/R financing (finance) or 应收账款融资 (in Chinese). These other terms are used because the accounts receivable of a company (i.e., unpaid invoices) are being used as collateral to unlock working capital—typically in the form of a bank loan (‘receivables loan’). Sellers often face cash flow problems when their buyers do not make full payment at the due date of the invoice. A receivables financing arrangement addresses this problem by allowing them to sell their outstanding invoices to a bank at a discounted rate. This approach allows the seller to receive the remaining invoice amount before the due date of the invoice. The bank either gets its money back at invoice maturity through the seller (acting as a collecting agent) or directly from the debtor.