AFGHANISTAN  Debt treatment -      July 18, 2007

Supporting agreements with the international institutions

IMF programme - Arrangement under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) approved on June 26, 2006

Download the IMF report: PRGF document

Download the IMF report: Decision Point Document

Amounts treated

$22 million of which $14 million being cancelled, of which $8 million being rescheduled

Accorded treatment

Decision point reached on July 9, 2007

Categories of debt treated

Treatment of maturities falling due from July 1, 2007 up to March 31, 2009

Repayment profile

Treatment under Cologne terms (cancellation rate of 90%), after cancellation to a rate of 90%

Specific provisions

Good will clause

Given the decision by Paris Club Creditors to contribute to the exceptional assistance in favour of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan 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 Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's outstanding debt stock and to make the necessary effort in favour of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan 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 Islamic Republic of Afghanistan 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 Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has reached its Completion Point under the enhanced HIPC initiative.

Free transferability provision

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan guarantees the immediate and unrestricted transfer of the foreign exchange counterpart of all amounts paid in local currency as of the date of the Agreed Minutes as well as all amounts paid from this date by the private debtors in Afghanistan for servicing their foreign debt owed to or guaranteed by the Participating Creditor Countries or their appropriate institutions, for which the corresponding payments in local currency have been or will be deposited in the Central Bank.

Phases

  • First phase : From July 1, 2007 up to March 31, 2008, implemented at the signature of the agreement
  • Second phase : From April 1, 2008 up to March 31, 2009, implemented on April 7, 2008

Comparability of treatment provision

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was declared eligible to the Enhanced HIPC initiative by the IDA and the IMF in April 2007 and was declared to have reached its Decision Point in July 2007. In this context, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan commits to seek promptly from all its external creditors which are not participating in the 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 Islamic Republic of Afghanistan'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 Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and creditor countries not listed in the Agreed Minutes.

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

Cut-off date

June 20, 1999

Organisation of the session

Participating creditors
  • GERMANY
  • RUSSIAN FEDERATION
  • UNITED STATES OF AMERICA