The loans carry an interest rate of 0.75 percent and must be repaid over 40 years, including a 10-year grace period, and will be offered through the government-affiliated Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the ministry said in a statement.
Of the amount, JPY 50.05 billion (USD 430.4 million) will be used for the construction of a pipeline to export oil from the southern Iraqi city of Basra. The remaining JPY 32.59 billion (USD 280.2 million) will be used to stabilize power transmission across the nation.
The loan is the latest batch of the up to USD 3.5 billion worth of low-interest loans which Tokyo pledged for Iraq at the international donors' meeting in October 2003 in Madrid. Japan, a key donor to Iraq, has pledged to provide Iraq a total of USD 5 billion in aid for its reconstruction for a four-year period from 2004 to 2007, including USD 1.5 billion in grants.(Source)Kuna
