Conformed Copy - D001 - Commercial Debt Reduction Facility - Grant Agreement

Page 1 CONFORMED COPY GRANT AGREEMENT NUMBER D-001 NIR (Commercial Debt Reduction Facility) among REPUBLIC OF NIGER and BANQUE CENTRALE DES ETATS DE L'AFRIQUE DE L'OUEST and INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION as Trustee of the Debt Reduction Facility for IDA-Only Countries Dated February 8, 1991 GRANT AGREEMENT NUMBER D-001 NIR GRANT AGREEMENT AGREEMENT, dated February 8, 1991, among the REPUBLIC OF NIGER (Niger), the BANQUE CENTRALE DES ETATS DE L'AFRIQUE DE L'OUEST (the Guarantor) and the INTERNATIONAL DEVELOP-MENT ASSOCIATION (the Association), acting as trustee (the Grantor) of the Debt Reduction Facility for IDA-Only Countries (the Facilit-y). WHEREAS, pursuant to Resolutions No. IDA 89-4 and No. 89-13 of the Executive Directors of the Association and of the Inter-national Bank for Reconstruction and Development, respectively, the Facility has been established and is being administered by the Association as a trust to provide grants to assist in the reduction of commercial debt of certain members of the Associa-tion; WHEREAS (A) Niger has established a medium-term adjustment program, described in the Policy Framework Paper dated September 13, 1990, acceptable to the Grantor; (B) Niger has formulated a debt management strategy (the Financial Plan) Page 2 satisfactory to the Grantor that: (i) includes a program for resolving Niger's commercial debt problem in a com-prehensive manner based on funds to be provided by the Facility and other available resources (the Debt Reduction Plan), (ii) provides for substantial debt relief from Niger's official bila-teral creditors through an agreement with the Paris Club that provides the most favorable treatment accorded to debtors by the Paris Club, and (iii) will materially enhance Niger's growth and development prospects; and (C) Niger has confirmed to the Grantor that it has received assurances from other donors for the equivalent of at least ten million United States dollars (US$10,000,000) of grant funds to assist in the Debt Reduction Plan; WHEREAS the Guarantor has agreed to enter into an agreement with Niger (the Niger/Guarantor Agreement) pursuant to which the Guarantor will (i) provide non-recourse secured guaranties for certain debt instruments to be issued by Niger pursuant to the Debt Reduction Plan and (ii) release Niger from all liability to the Guarantor in respect of such guaranties; WHEREAS the Government of Switzerland has indicated to Niger and the Grantor its agreement in principle to make a contribution to the Facility in the amount of three million United States dollars (US$3,000,000) to assist in the Debt Reduction Plan; WHEREAS, on the basis of the foregoing, Niger has requested, and the Grantor has agreed, to make available to the Guarantor a grant out of the funds of the Facility to assist the Guarantor in securing such guaranties, and thereby assist Niger in executing the Debt Reduction Plan, on the terms and condi-tions hereinafter set forth; NOW THEREFORE the parties hereto hereby agree as follows: ARTICLE I Definitions Section 1.01. Wherever used in this Agreement, unless the context otherwise requires, the following capitalized terms have the following meanings: (a) " Agent de R