Finance Minister Colm Imbert is once more emphasizing that there are no structural adjustment conditions attached to a US$204million loan granted from the Chinese government. 

At a press briefing on Tuesday, Imbert said the sole requirement for the loan, which has an interest rate of 2%, is that government commit to  spending  15% of the funds on “Chinese elements” – which he explained was goods and services from China.

“And that could be anything, that could be equipment, vaccines, medical supplies, anything- once it is manufactured in China,” Imbert said.

This, he added, was much different from loan agreement conditions under agencies like the IMF, which would require strict conditionalities in order for a country to access loans. 

“They’re (China) not saying look- send home 20,000 public servants, double the price of electricity, triple the price of water. It is not that- those are conditionalities,” he said.

It is on this basis that Imbert said despite the IMF’s interest rate coming in at 1.05%- close to half the amount for the Chinese loan- that government was of the view that China’s loan was a more “attractive” offer.