Naples terms

1/ History

In December, 1994, Paris Club creditors agreed to implement a new treatment on the debt of the poorest countries. These new terms, called "Naples terms", grant two substantial enhancements with respect to London terms, that can be implemented on a case by case basis, on the level of reduction and the conditions of treatment of the debt :

- for the poorest and most indebted countries, the level of cancellation is at least 50% and can be raised to 67% of eligible non-ODA credits. Creditors agreed in September 1999 that all Naples terms treatments would carry a 67% debt reduction;

- stock treatments may be implemented, on a case-by-case basis, for countries having established a satisfactory track record with both the Paris Club and IMF and for which there is sufficient confidence in their ability to respect the debt agreement.

As of today, 33 countries have benefited from Naples terms.

2/ Eligibility

Eligibility for the Naples terms is assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the track record of the debtor country with the Paris Club and the IMF and of various criteria, including having a high level of indebtedness, being only eligible for IDA financing from the World Bank, and having a low GDP-per-capita (755 $ or less).

3/ Description

3.1. Non-ODA credits are cancelled to a 67% level (after possible topping-up). Creditors may chose to implement the 67% debt reduction by one of the two following options:

- "debt reduction option" ("DR"): 67% of the claims treated are cancelled (after possible topping-up), the outstanding part being rescheduled at the appropriate market rate according to standard table "A1" (23 years repayment period with a 6-year grace and progressive payments);

- "debt service reduction option" ("DSR"): the claims treated are rescheduled at a reduced interest rate according to standard table "A3" (33 years repayment period with progressive payments). In case of stock treatment, table A3 is replaced by standard table "A5".

Two other options were also designed, but have been very seldom used:

- the "Capitalisation of moratorium interest" ("CMI") option, similar to the "DSR" option (with a reduction of 67% in net present value) but with slightly different repayment profiles;

- the "commercial option", with longer repayment profiles but no reduction of the claims in net present value. It was agreed that creditors would refrain from using this option to very exceptional circumstances.

3.2. Concerning ODA credits, they are rescheduled at an interest rate at least as favourable as the original concessional interest rate applying to these loans, according to standard table "D2" (40 years with 16-year grace and progressive repayment). This rescheduling results in a reduction of the net present value of the claims, as the original concessional rate is smaller than the appropriate market rate. The reduction in the net present value varies from one country to another, depending on the original interest rate of the claims. By contrast, the Paris Club rescheduling has a positive effect on the expected value of the ODA claims, as the creditors salvage value relative to the recovery of otherwise defaulted amounts.

3.3. Naples terms also include the possibility for creditor countries to conduct, on a bilateral and voluntary basis, debt swaps with the debtor country.

These swap operations may in principle be carried out without limit on official development assistance loans (ODA), and up to 20% of the outstanding amount or 15 up to 30 million SDR for non-ODA credits.

Paris Club creditors and debtors regularly conduct a reporting to the Paris Club Secretariat of the debt swaps conducted.