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South Sudan secures $12 bln oil-backed loan from UAE firm, UN report and documents show

A Dubaibased firm has agreed to lend South Sudan's government $12 billion in exchange for payment in oil, according to a copy of the deal's term sheet and an unpublished U.N. report, possibly stacking pressure on squeezed public financial resources.

The deal would be the biggest oil-backed loan South Sudan has actually ever taken out, according to the report composed by a U.N. panel of investigators for Security Council members. The nation's gdp (GDP) is about $7 billion.

The U.N. report is due to be published quickly.

The contract was signed on Dec. 28 by South Sudan's former financing minister, Bak Barnaba, and Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, chairman of the Hamad Bin Khalifa Department of Projects ( HBKDOP), according to the term sheet seen .

It was unclear if the first tranche of the loan, worth $ 5.24 billion, had actually been delivered yet. Bloomberg News first reported the findings of the U.N. report.

South Sudan's Minister of Details Michael Makuei rejected such an offer had been signed, asking: How can one minister sign such a document alone on behalf of the government?

He decreased to comment further when showed him a copy of the signed term sheet.

was unable to locate contact information for HBKDOP. Its chairman, Al Nahyan, did not instantly react to a. request for remark sent out to his LinkedIn account.

was unable to reach Barnaba, the previous finance. minister, who was replaced in March without explanation. A. finance ministry representative stated he could not comment because. he was out of the country.

South Sudan will get the money in dollars or euros, in. exchange for unrefined provided at affordable rates of $10 per. barrel less than international criteria rates, the term sheet. says. The nation produces about 150,000 barrels each day.

Facilities jobs will get 70% of the funds, while. 30% will approach the country's working capital.

The U.N. report said servicing the loan was likely to tie up. most of South Sudan's oil earnings, which represent more than. 90% of public earnings, for several years.

CORRUPTION DANGERS

Resource-backed loans are popular among numerous mineral- and. oil-rich African nations that struggle to access funding,. however worldwide organisations state they are opaque and dangerous.

Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank,. stated earlier this month that such deals were making complex. attempts to minimize financial obligation levels across the continent.

South Sudan, which has been wrecked by conflict considering that. acquiring self-reliance from Sudan in 2011, has turned repeatedly. to oil-backed borrowing.

It is secured a disagreement with the Qatar National Bank after. it stopped working to provide crude oil to service a 2012 loan that had. grown to more than $600 million, the U.N. panel stated.

Oil earnings have actually been a source of significant corruption,. South Sudan's federal government has acknowledged. President Salva Kiir. said in 2012 that authorities had stolen an approximated $4 billion. of public cash.

The U.N. investigators stated corruption remained rife.

Non-transparent off-budget government procurement continues. to divert significant public funds far from wages and. services, it said.