Chinese Government provides interest-free loan worth 4.4 billion CFA francs for unspecified purposes

📋 Staff Comments

This loan was included in a list of 2000-2017 Chinese Government loans that Benin’s Ministry of Economy and Finance provided to AidData’s Executive Director in May 2018 via email correspondence (See: Pedido de Lista de Doações e Empréstimos de Instituições Governamentais Chinesas). The list identifies two Chinese Government loans that were signed in 2011, so it is unlikely that this loan is a duplicate of the loan captured in Project ID#59138. Since loan terms for the interest-free loan are unavailable, AidData has set maturity period to 20-years by default and grace period to 10-years by default per China's Foreign Assistance White Paper (http://www.cidca.gov.cn/2018-08/06/c_129925064_3.htm) which states that the maturity period of interest-free loans is 20-years, with a drawdown period of 5-years, grace period of 5-years, and repayment over 10-years. AidData treats the drawdown period as providing 5-years of additional grace.

📚 Sources & References

• China provides substantial financial assistance to Benin
• Benin's President Yayi Meets with Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun
• Liste de prêts des institutions gouvernementales chinoises de 2000 à 2017
• Pedido de Lista de Doações e Empréstimos de Instituições Governamentais Chinesas 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.