Completed Development AidData Chinese Aid

China forgives 289.208 million RMB in debt from Tanzania (Linked to Record ID#85121, #85122)

¥289.21M RMB

Funder	Unspecified Chinese Government Institution
Recipient Organization	Government of Tanzania
Country	Tanzania
Start Date	Jul 17, 2001
End Date	Jul 29, 2029
Duration	10,239 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Recipient
Data Source	AidData Chinese Aid
Grant ID	`85123`

Grant Description

On 17 July 2001, Chinese and Tanzanian government officials signed a protocol in which China would exempt Tanzania from repayment obligations for 15 interest-free loans that had matured on 31 December 1999.

According to Chinese official news outlets, the total value of debt cancellation was equal to 289.208 million RMB (Record ID#85123), $19.2 million USD (see Record ID#85122), and 1.275 million GBP (See Record ID#85121).

The attached PKU Law source describes 9 out of 15 of those loans, so there are 6 unspecified loans included in this debt cancellation agreement. Seven loans are all denominated in RMB and when added together equal 284.828 million RMB. If the media reporting is correct, that means about 2.3 million RMB ($277,876 in 2001 USD) is not accounted for.

Two loans are denominated in GBP and when added together equal 1.5 million GBP. This actually exceeds the 1.275 million GBP figure reported in Chinese media.

PKU Law did not report any USD-denominated loans, so the majority of the six unidentified loans forgiven in this 2001 protocol are likely in USD.

Based on all of the aforementioned information, there is approximately $36,571,957.13 USD in Chinese interest-free loans forgiven for Tanzania on 17 July 2001.

📋 Staff Comments

Because there are 6 unspecified loans, AidData relies on the aggregate figures reported by Chinese news outlets.
RMB discrepancy calculations: 289.208 million RMB (from Chinese news outlets) - 284.828 million (sum of projects) = roughly 2.3 million RMB.
The loans forgiven through this action were interest-free loans committed through previous ETCAs signed by the two governments. As such, the loans likely had maturity lengths of 20-years and since they had reached maturity by 1999, they were necessarily contracted prior to 2000. Therefore, AidData has not assigned this record to the umbrella category (as there is little risk of double counting the monetary value of the debts that were forgiven).

📚 Sources & References

Completion Point Document for the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative
China Agrees to Cancel Part of Tanzania's Debt
Tanzania: China Cancels Country's Debt By One Third
China to Cancel Part of Tanzania's Debt
中华人民共和国政府和坦桑尼亚联合共和国政府关于免除坦桑尼亚政府部分债务议定书 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.