China Eximbank suspend debt service payments under buyer’s credit for Irufen Island Resort Project between July 2021 and December 2021 (Linked to Record ID#54281 and #97751)

On December 14, 2017, the Export-Import Bank of China signed a $127.5 million buyer's credit loan agreement with Ahmed Siyam Holdings Pvt Ltd for the Irufen Island Resort Project (as captured via Record ID#54281).

The Government of Maldives issued a sovereign guarantee in support of the loan.

The proceeds of the loan were to be used by the borrower to partially finance a $150 million 'EPC plus financing' (EPCF or EPC+F) turnkey contract between Maldives Sun Group (an alternative name for Ahmed Siyam Holdings Pvt Ltd) and China Communications Construction Company Limited, which was signed on January 30, 2016.

Then, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting that took place on April 15, 2020 and on November 13, 2020, the Chinese Government agreed to work with other G20 members to implement the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI).

As part of DSSI, China Eximbank, Ahmed Siyam Holdings Pvt Ltd (borrower), and the Government of the Maldives (guarantor) signed a debt suspension agreement during calendar year 2021 (most likely in July 2021).

Under the terms of the agreement, the lender agreed to suspend principal and interest payments due between January 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021 under the $127.5 million buyer's credit loan agreement for the Irufen Island Resort Project. The total estimated suspension amount is $8,241,901.

At the time that the parties signed the debt suspension agreement, they both acknowledged that the total suspension amount would ultimately be determined at the end of the suspension period (since loan disbursements could be made during the suspension period and the lender agreed to suspend the payment of interest accrued on any disbursements during the suspension period).

The lender and borrower agreed that the suspension of debt service would be undertaken on a net present value (NPV)-neutral basis.

Therefore, the borrower agreed to pay interest accrued on the amount outstanding under the total suspension amount (‘Suspension Interest’) by paying the Suspension Interest on the amount outstanding under the loan agreement’s suspension amount at the same rate of interest set forth in the original loan agreement.

Under the terms of the debt suspension agreement, the lender and the borrower also agreed that ‘[t]he suspension interest on the amount outstanding under the Suspension Amount concerning [the] Loan Agreement shall be calculated on the basis of the actual number of days elapsed and a year of 360 days, from and including the Repayment Date/Repayment Date of Principal and Interest falling within the Suspension Period to the date of payment in full of the corresponding Suspension Amount, and shall be paid in arrears on each Interest Payment Date under the […] Loan Agreement.’ The borrower also agreed that (1) ‘it shall continue to perform all its obligations […] under the Loan [Agreement] as supplemented and amended by [the debt suspension agreement]’; (2) ‘it shall use the created fiscal space to increase social, health, or economic spending in response to the COVID-19 crisis […]’ and ‘work closely with the International Financial Institutions who are expected to put in place a monitoring system’; (3) ‘it shall disclose to the Lender all Public Sector Financial Commitments (as defined in the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 (GFSM2014)), respecting commercially sensitive information’; and (4) ‘it shall contract no new non-concessional debt during the Suspension Period, other than agreements under the DSSI’.

The (principal) amount outstanding under the new, $8,438,795 China Eximbank loan instrument was $8,241,901 as of December 31, 2021 $8,241,901 as of December 31, 2022, and $6,593,520 as of December 31, 2023. The borrower made no principal payments during calendar year 2022 and a $1,648,380 repayment during 2023.