Completed Development AidData Chinese Aid

China Eximbank provides RMB 300 million government concessional loan for Myanmar Section of Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN) Project (Linked to Record ID#96221, 98029)

¥300M RMB

Funder	Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank)
Recipient Organization	Government of Myanmar (Burma)
Country	Myanmar
Start Date	Mar 01, 2007
End Date	Dec 29, 2026
Duration	7,243 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Recipient
Data Source	AidData Chinese Aid
Grant ID	`35826`

Grant Description

China Eximbank provides RMB 300 million government concessional loan for Myanmar Section of Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN) Project In July 2005, China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Planning and Construction of a Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN).

Then, on February 14, 2006, Myanmar’s Minister for Communications, Posts and Telegraphs Brig-Gen Thein Zaw and China’s Minister for Information Industry Wang Xudong signed an MOU on the Construction of Greater Mekong Information Superhighway Myanmar Section.

In March 2007, China Eximbank and the Government of Myanmar signed an RMB 300 million government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for the Myanmar Section of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN) Project. The borrowing terms of the GCL are unknown.

However, it is known that the proceeds of the GCL were to be used to finance a commercial (EPC) contract between Myanmar Post and Telecommunications Corporation and Alcatel-Shanghai Bell Co Ltd., which was signed on June 11, 2007.

The purpose of the project's Myanmar section was to lay more than 2000 km of fiber optic cable from Muse to Tachilek via Mandalay and Yangon. Phase 1 of the project was complete as of March 2008.

Also, in March 2008, a Myanmar–China fiber optic link was built from Kunming to Muse (on the China border) with its link further extended to reach Yangon. However, it is unclear whether/when Phase 2 commenced, and how it was financed.

There are some indications that the China Eximbank loan for the Myanmar Section of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN) Project may have financially underperformed vis-a-vis the original expectations of the lender.

In 2020, China Eximbank and the Government of Myanmar 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 3 buyer’s credit loan (BCL) agreements, 6 government concessional loan (GCL) agreements, and 27 preferential buyer’s credit (PBC) agreements (as captured via Record ID#98029).

Debt service payments under many of these loan agreements were again deferred in 2021 (as captured via Record ID#96221).

📋 Staff Comments

This project is also known as the Myanmar Section of Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Highway Project. The Chinese project title is 大湄公河次区域信息高速公路缅甸项目. The Burmese project title is မဲေခါင္သတင္းအခ်က္အလက္ႏႇင့္ အျမန္ဆက္ေၾကာင္း.
The China Eximbank loan that supported this project is not included in the Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020.
According to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), the weighted average maturity of all official sector lending from Chinese creditors to government and government-guaranteed borrowing institutions in Myanmar was 14.5376-years in 2007. AidData estimates the maturity of the China Eximbank loan that supported the Myanmar Section of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN) Project by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/s/949n5rctiue6d7c/IDS_Average_grace_period_and_maturity_on_new_external_debt_commitments.xlsx?dl=0 4. According to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), the weighted average grace period of all official sector lending from Chinese creditors to government and government-guaranteed borrowing institutions in Myanmar was 5.56-years in 2007. AidData estimates the grace period of the China Eximbank loan that supported the Myanmar Section of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN) Project by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/s/949n5rctiue6d7c/IDS_Average_grace_period_and_maturity_on_new_external_debt_commitments.xlsx?dl=0 5. 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 Myanmar was 2.8812% in 2007. AidData estimates the interest rate of the China Eximbank loan that supported the Myanmar Section of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Superhighway Network (ISN) Project by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/s/ab8qt4n6jijcbhd/IDS_Average%20interest%20on%20new%20external%20debt%20commitments.xlsx?dl=0

📚 Sources & References

PRC/BURMA: READ-OUT OF PM SOE WIN VISIT
China's Economic Aid to CLMV And Its Cooperation With Them
China and Myanmar Strategic Interests
Strategies and the Road Ahead
MYANMAR (BURMA) 1 (Complete 240407)
ANNEX 1 – Data on Aid Flows from Non-DAC Countries to Selected Countries in East Asia
Myanmar thanks China for its firm support as a true friend on issues that directly connected with interest of Myanmar
Modern China-Myanmar Relations Dilemma of Mutual Dependence
中国参与大湄公河次区域经济合作国家报告(全文), 《大湄公河次区域信息高速公路缅甸项目优惠贷款协议》在仰光签署
缅甸政府支持建设大湄公河次区域信息高速公路
图片专辑, 《大湄公河次区域信息高速公路缅甸段项目一期供货协议》在内比都签署
White paper: China's foreign aid
Over $ 3 billion and nearly 2 billion yuan in loans from China in four years
Between 2006 and 2011
Myanmar received more than US $ 3 billion in loans from China and nearly two billion Chinese yuan in loans, the largest amount in the power and energy sectors.
Disclosure of 20 Chinese loans from 2006-2011 by Ministry of National Planning and Economic
China Overseas Development Finance Loan applications and disbursements are still being received and processed as the projects continue to evolve. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation are in place to ensure project continuity.

All Grantees

Government of Myanmar (Burma)

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