CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Debt Treatment - December 24, 2007

possibility to conduct debt swaps

On a voluntary and bilateral basis, the Government of each Participating Creditor Country or its appropriate institutions may sell or exchange, in the framework of debt for nature, debt for aid, debt for equity swaps or other local currency debt swaps:

(i) the amounts of outstanding loans and consolidations as regards ODA debts;

(ii) the amounts of other outstanding credits, loans and consolidations referred to in the agreement, up to 20% of the amounts of outstanding loans, credits and consolidations as of 31 March 1994 or up to an amount of 15 million SDR, whichever is higher.

good will clause

Given the decision by Paris Club Creditors to contribute to the exceptional assistance in favour of the Government of the Central African Republic under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative, the Participating Creditor Countries declare their readiness in principle to hold a meeting at the Completion Point designed to examine the question of the Central African Republic’s outstanding debt stock and to make the necessary effort in favour of the Central African Republic to allow it to reach the objective of its debt sustainability in the context of an equitable burden sharing among creditors, provided that:

- the Government of the Central African Republic maintains satisfactory relations with the Participating Creditor Countries and a sound adjustment track record;

- the Executive Boards of the IMF and the IDA decide that the Central African Republic has reached its Completion Point under the enhanced HIPC initiative.

Phases

• First phase : From September 01, 2007 up to November 30, 2007 implemented at the signature of the agreement
• Second phase : From December 01, 2007 up to November 30, 2008 not implemented yet
• Third phase : From December 01, 2008 up to November 30, 2009 not implemented yet

The Central African Republic was declared eligible to the Enhanced HIPC initiative by the IDA and the IMF in March 2007 and was declared to have reached its Decision Point in September 2007. In this context, the Central African Republic commits to seek promptly from all its external creditors which are not participating in these Agreed Minutes, their appropriate contribution in terms of debt relief to the enhanced HIPC initiative, on top of traditional debt relief mechanisms and consistent with the proportional burden sharing based on their relative exposure in net present value of total external debt at Decision Point after the full use of traditional debt relief mechanisms.

The appropriate nature of the debt relief provided will be assessed not only on the basis of the reduction in the net present value of the debt as computed under Appropriate Market Rate, but also on the terms of repayment of the debts not cancelled. For this purpose, all relevant elements will be taken into account, including the level of cash payments received by those creditors as compared to their share in the Central African Republic’s external debt, the nature and characteristics of all treatment applied, including debt buy backs, and all characteristics of the reorganized claims and in particular their repayment terms whatever forms they take and in general the financial relations between the Central African Republic and creditor countries not listed in Agreed Minutes.

Consequently, the Central African Republic commits not to accord any category of creditors -and in particular creditor countries not participating in Agreed Minutes, commercial banks, suppliers and bondholders- a treatment more favourable than that accorded to the Participating Creditor Countries

Participating creditors