A Loan Agreement was signed today in Lome between the Republic of Togo and Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development whereby the Fund will extend a loan of Kuwaiti Dinars five million (KD.5,000,000/-) (i.e. equivalent to about 17  million US$) to help finance the  Sokode - Bassar Road Project .

 

                        The Loan Agreement was signed on behalf of the Republic of Togo by H.E. Mr. Sani Yaya , Minister delegate of budget , and on behalf of the Fund by Mr. Ghanem Sulaiman Al-Ghenaiman, Deputy Director-General of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development in attendance of Mr. Thamer Al-Failakawi, Regional Manager for West African countries at the Fund.

 

                              The aim of the Project is to enhance the economic and social development of the northern region of Togo, and at the same time participate in linking Togo with the neighboring countries Benin and Ghana.

                         

                        The total cost of the Project is estimated at about 48.891 billion West African CFA francs, the equivalent of about KD. 24.793 million, of which the foreign exchange is equivalent to about KD. 18.488 million, which represents about 74.6% of the total cost of the Project.  The Fund's Loan will cover about 17% of the total cost of the Project, or of about %20 of the of the costs of the Project. The Project will also be financed , together with the Fund , by the Saudi Fund for Development with loan in the amount of about 4.706 million Kuwaiti Dinars representing %19 of the total cost of the Project , the OPEC Fund for International Development with loan in the amount of about 3.53 million Kuwaiti Dinars representing %14 of the total cost of the Project , the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development with loan in the amount of about 2.94 million Kuwaiti Dinars representing %12 of the total cost of the Project, and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa with loan in the amount of about 2.94 million Kuwaiti Dinars representing %12 of the total cost of the Project, while the government will provide for the financing of the rest of the project costs.

 

                        The Loan will be for a period of 23 years including 5 years grace period, and will be amortized in 36 semi-annual installments, the first of which will be due on 1^st date on which any interest or other charge on the Loan shall fall due after the elapse of the above mentioned grace period.

 

                        The Loan bears an interest rate at 1% per annum, in addition to 0.5% per annum to cover administrative costs and other expenses incurred in the implementation of the Loan Agreement.

 

                        By concluding this agreement, it will be the seventh Loan that the Fund provided to Togo, where the Fund previously provided six loans amounting to about 19.2 million Kuwaiti Dinars equivalent to about 65 million U.S. Dollars for financing projects in transport and water sectors. In addition, the Fund has also provided Togo with three Technical Assistance of about 410,000 Kuwaiti Dinars (equivalent to about 1.44 million United States Dollars) for financing feasibility studies, in addition the Fund has administered a State of Kuwait Grant within the framework of Goodwill Fund initiate in the amount of 870,000 Kuwaiti Dinars.