Exim Bank to provide $20m line of credit to Swaziland

The Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has entered into an agreement with Swaziland for extending a USD 20 million soft loan to finance exports and
consultancy services for setting up an Information Technology Park in the African nation.

The Line of Credit (LoC) is effective from July 6 this year and the date of execution of the agreement is March 30, the Reserve Bank said in a statement.

"Exim Bank has concluded an Agreement dated March 30, 2011 with the government of Swaziland making available to the latter two LoCs... aggregating to USD 20 million for financing eligible goods and services, including consultancy services, from India for the purpose of financing the setting up of an Information Technology Park in Swaziland," it said.

Out of the total credit provided under this agreement, at least 75% of the goods and services, including consultancy services, have to be sourced from India.

As part of another agreement, Exim Bank has also decided to provide a LoC of USD 5 million to the Indo-Zambia Bank for financing goods and services.

The latest agreements comes after the Exim Bank had last month entered into similar pacts with governments of two other African countries -- Ethiopia and Tanzania -- to provide soft loans totalling over USD 127 million for various projects.