Finance

Russian bank VTB mistakenly attributes $12 billion loan to Central African Republic

Russian bank VTB mistakenly attributes $12 billion loan to Central African Republic
Wednesday, 28 November 2018 12:46

Vneshtorgbank, Russian Foreign Trade Bank, mistakenly assigned a $12 billion loan as granted to the Central African Republic, Reuters reported.

The loan was mentioned in a quarterly report published by the Russian bank. In that report, there was a chart listing VTB’s outstanding loans to a dozen countries at the period ended October 1, 2018. In the chart, next to the Central African Republic, there was the figure RUB 801,933,814,000 (about $12 billion), more than six times the GDP of that country.

Questioned about it, the bank declared that it was, in fact, a substantive error, not a loan. "VTB bank has no exposure of this size to CAR. Most likely, this is a case of an operational mistake in the system when the countries were being coded", the bank said in a statement sent to Reuters.

However, VTB did not mention who made the mistake neither did it explain how such an important sum could be published without being spotted.

As far as they are concerned, Central African authorities were astonished by this information. The government’s spokesperson Ange Maxime Kazagui declared "I don’t have that information. But it doesn’t sound credible because $11 billion is beyond the debt capacity of CAR".

Affected by a serious ethno-religious crisis for years now, Central African Republic’s GDP is about $1.95 billion for a population of about 5 million.

On the same topic
Proparco commits $17.25 million to Alterra Africa Accelerator Fund Fund targets established African companies with expansion...
MobileMoney Fintech CEO says company may list within 3–5 years Listing would allow users to invest in the company via mobile channels Ghana’s stock...
Government begins third 100-day performance review on April 20, 2026 GDP growth projected to rise from 9.2% to 10.2% Industry, services and...
Fitch says debt restructuring could come before any new IMF program Public debt near 91% of GDP keeps pressure on finances LNG project fuels...
Most Read
01

(EBID) - EBID aims to allocate nearly 41% of its commitments to projects with environmental and...

EBID makes giant strides for a green transition in west africa
02

Mahindra & Mahindra is considering a CKD assembly plant near Durban to strengthen its presence i...

Mahindra & Mahindra Eyes Major Shift to Full Vehicle Assembly in South Africa
03

AFC disbursed €43 million for Côte d’Ivoire solar project Financing supports 66 MW pla...

AFC Backs First Green Project Finance Bond for 66MW Côte d’Ivoire Solar Plant
04

Operators review 2025 investments, outline 2026 expansion plans Consumer complaints persist...

Cameroon Presses Telecom Operators on Service Quality as Complaints Rise
05

MTN Ghana launches crackdown on mobile money agent fraud Audits trigger warnings, suspensions...

MTN Ghana tightens controls on mobile money agents over fraud concerns
Enter your email to receive our newsletter

Ecofin Agency provides daily coverage of nine key African economic sectors: public management, finance, telecoms, agribusiness, mining, energy, transport, communication, and education.
It also designs and manages specialized media, both online and print, for African institutions and publishers.

SALES & ADVERTISING

regie@agenceecofin.com 
Tél: +41 22 301 96 11 
Mob: +41 78 699 13 72


EDITORIAL
redaction@agenceecofin.com

More information
Team
Publisher

ECOFIN AGENCY

Mediamania Sarl
Rue du Léman, 6
1201 Geneva
Switzerland

 

Ecofin Agency is a sector-focused economic news agency, founded in December 2010. Its web platform was launched in June 2011. ©Mediamania.

 
 

Please publish modules in offcanvas position.