Page 1 CONFORMED COPY LOAN NUMBER 7115 MAS Loan Agreement (Public Expenditure Reform Loan) between REPUBLIC OF MAURITIUS and INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT Page 2 P:\MODEL\LOAN\LA-SAL.DOC Dated May 10, 2002 Page 3 CONFORMED COPY LOAN NUMBER 7115 MAS LOAN AGREEMENT AGREEMENT, dated May 10, 2002, between REPUBLIC OF MAURITIUS (the Borrower) and INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT (the Bank). WHEREAS (A) the Bank has received from the Borrower a letter, dated March 25, 2002, describing a program of actions, objectives and policies designed to achieve structural reform of the Borrower’s economy (hereinafter called the Program), declaring the Borrower’s commitment to the execution of the Program, and requesting assistance from the Bank in support of the Program during the execution thereof; (B) the Borrower has carried out the measures and taken the actions described in Schedule 2 to this Agreement to the satisfaction of the Bank and has maintained a macroeconomic policy framework satisfactory to the Bank; and WHEREAS on the basis, inter alia, of the foregoing, the Bank has decided in support of the Program to provide such assistance to the Borrower by making the Loan in a single tranche as hereinafter provided; NOW THEREFORE the parties hereto hereby agree as follows: ARTICLE I General Conditions; Definitions Section 1.01. The “General Conditions Applicable to Loan and Guarantee Agreements for Fixed-Spread Loans” of the Bank dated September 1, 1999, with the modifications set forth below (the General Conditions) constitute an integral part of this Agreement: (a) Section 2.01, paragraph 41, is modified to read: “‘Project’ means the program, referred to in the Preamble to the Loan Agreement, in support of which the Loan is made.”; Page 4 - 2 - (b) Section 3.08 is modified to read: “Each withdrawal of an amount of the Loan from the Loan Account shall be made in the Loan Currency of such amount. If the Loan Currency is not the currency of the deposit account specified in Section 2.02 (b) of the Loan Agreement, the Bank, at the request and acting as an agent of the Borrower, shall purchase with the Loan Currency withdrawn from the Loan Account the currency of such deposit account as shall be required to deposit the withdrawn amount into such deposit account.” (c) Section 5.01 is modified to read: “The Borrower shall be entitled to withdraw the proceeds of the Loan from the Loan Account in accordance with the provisions of the Loan Agreement and of these General Conditions.”; (d) the last sentence of Section 5.03 is deleted; (e) Section 9.07 (c) is modified to read: “(c) Not later than six months after the Closing Date or such later date as may be agreed for this purpose between the Borrower and the Bank, the Borrower shall prepare and furnish to the Bank a report, of such scope and in such detail as the Bank shall reasonably request, on the execution of the program referred to in the Preamble to the Loan Agreement, the performance by the Borrower and the Bank of their respective obligations under the Loan Agreement and the accomplishment of the purposes of the Loan.”; and (f) Section 9.05 is deleted and Sections 9.06, 9.07 (as modified above), 9.08 and 9.09 are renumbered, respectively, Sections 9.05, 9.06, 9.07 and 9.08. Section 1.02. Unless the context otherwise requires, the several terms defined in the General Conditions and in the Preamble to this Agreement have the respective meanings therein set forth and the following additional terms have the following meanings: (a) “Deposit Account” means the account referred to in Section 2.02 (b) of this Agreement; and (b) “Mauritian Rupee” and “MUR” each means the lawful currency of the Borrower. Page 5 - 3 - ARTICLE II The Loan Section 2.01. The Bank agrees to lend to the Borrower, on the terms and conditions set forth or referred to in the Loan Agreement, an amount equal to forty million Dollars ($40,000,000), as such amount may be converted from time to time through a Currency Conversion in accordance with the provisions of Section 2.09 of this Agreement. Section 2.02. (a) Subject to the provisions of paragraphs (b) and (c) of this Section, the Borrower shall be entitled to withdraw the proceeds of the Loan from the Loan Account in support of the Program and in respect of the front-end fee referred to in Section 2.04 of this Agreement. (b) The Borrower shall open, prior to furnishing to the Bank the first request for withdrawal from the Loan Account, and thereafter maintain in its central bank, a deposit account in Dollars on terms and conditions satisfactory to the Bank. All withdrawals from the Loan Account shall be deposited by the Bank into the Deposit Account. (c) The Borrower undertakes that the proceeds of the Loan shall not be used to finance expenditures excluded pursuant to the provisions of Schedule 1 to this Agreement. If the Bank shall have determined at any time that any proceeds of the Loan shall have been used to make a payment for an expenditure so excluded, the Borrower shall, promptly upon notice from the Bank: (i) deposit into the Deposit Account an amount equal to the amount of said payment, or (ii) if the Bank shall so request, refund such amount to the Bank. Amounts refunded to the Bank upon such request shall be credited to the Loan Account for cancellation. Section 2.03. The Closing Date shall be September 30, 2002, or such later date as the Bank shall establish. The Bank shall promptly notify the Borrower of such later date. Section 2.04. The Borrower shall pay to the Bank a front-end fee in an amount equal to four hundred thousand Dollars ($400,000). The Borrower agrees that, on or promptly after the Effective Date, the Bank shall, on behalf of the Borrower, withdraw from the Loan Account and pay to itself the amount of such fee. Section 2.05. The Borrower shall pay to the Bank a commitment charge on the principal amount of the Loan not withdrawn from time to time, at a rate equal to: (i) eighty five one-hundredths of one per cent (0.85%) per annum from the date on which such charge commences to accrue in accordance with the provisions of Section 3.02 of the General Conditions to, but not including, the fourth anniversary of such date; and (ii) seventy five one-hundredths of one per cent (0.75%) per annum thereafter. Page 6 - 4 - Section 2.06. The Borrower shall pay interest on the principal amount of the Loan withdrawn and outstanding from time to time, in respect of each Interest Period at the Variable Rate; provided that, upon a Conversion of all or any portion of the principal amount of the Loan, the Borrower shall, during the Conversion Period, pay interest on such amount in accordance with the relevant provisions of Article IV of the General Conditions. Section 2.07. Interest and commitment charges shall be payable semiannually in arrears on April 1 and October 1 in each year. Section 2.08. The Borrower shall repay the principal amount of the Loan in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 3 to this Agreement. Section 2.09. (a) The Borrower may at any time request any of the following Conversions of the terms of the Loan in order to facilitate prudent debt management: (i) a change of the Loan Currency of all or any portion of the principal amount of the Loan, withdrawn or unwithdrawn, to an Approved Currency; (ii) a change of the interest rate basis applicable to all or any portion of the principal amount of the Loan from a Variable Rate to a Fixed Rate, or vice versa; and (iii) the setting of limits on the Variable Rate applicable to all or any portion of the principal amount of the Loan withdrawn and outstanding by the establishment of an Interest Rate Cap or Interest Rate Collar on said Variable Rate. (b) Any conversion requested pursuant to paragraph (a) of this Section that is accepted by the Bank shall be considered a “Conversion”, as defined in Section 2.01 (7) of the General Conditions, and shall be effected in accordance with the provisions of Article IV of the General Conditions and of the Conversion Guidelines ARTICLE III Particular Covenants Section 3.01. (a) The Borrower and the Bank shall from time to time, at the request of either party, exchange views on the progress achieved in carrying out the Program. Page 7 - 5 - (b) Prior to each such exchange of views, the Borrower shall furnish to the Bank for its review and comment a report on the progress achieved in carrying out the Program, in such detail as the Bank shall reasonably request. (c) Without limitation upon the provisions of paragraph (a) of this Section, the Borrower shall exchange views with the Bank on any proposed action to be taken after the disbursement of the Loan which would have the effect of materially reversing the objectives of the Program, or any action taken under the Program, including any action specified in Schedule 2 to this Agreement. Section 3.02. Upon the Bank’s request, the Borrower shall: (a) have the Deposit Account audited in accordance with appropriate auditing principles consistently applied, by independent auditors acceptable to the Bank; (b) furnish to the Bank as soon as available, but in any case not later than four (4) months after the date of the Bank’s request for such audit, a certified copy of the report of such audit by said auditors, of such scope and in such detail as the Bank shall have reasonably requested; and (c) furnish to the Bank such other information concerning the Deposit Account and the audit thereof as the Bank shall have reasonably requested. ARTICLE IV Additional Event of Suspension Section 4.01. Pursuant to Section 6.02 (p) of the General Conditions, the following additional event is specified, namely, that a situation has arisen which shall make it improbable that the Program, or a significant part thereof, will be carried out. ARTICLE V Termination Section 5.01. The date ninety (90) days after the date of this Agreement is hereby specified for the purposes of Section 12.04 of the General Conditions. Page 8 - 6 - ARTICLE VI Representative of the Borrower; Addresses Section 6.01. The Minister of the Borrower to whom is assigned responsibility for finance is designated as representative of the Borrower for the purposes of Section 11.03 of the General Conditions. Section 6.02. The following addresses are specified for the purposes of Section 11.01 of the General Conditions: For the Borrower: Ministry of Finance Government House Port Louis Mauritius Cable address: Telex: Facsimile: MINFIN 4247 (230) 208 8622 Port Louis EXTERN IW For the Bank: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433 United States of America Cable address: Telex: Facsimile: INTBAFRAD 248423 (MCI) or (202) 477-6391 Washington, D.C. 64145 (MCI) Page 9 - 7 - IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto, acting through their duly authorized representatives, have caused this Agreement to be signed in their respective names in the District of Columbia, United States of America, as of the day and year first above written. REPUBLIC OF MAURITIUS By /s/ Rajkumar Sookun Authorized Representative INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT By /s/ Hafez Ghanem Acting Regional Vice President Africa Page 10 - 8 - SCHEDULE 1 Excluded Expenditures For purposes of Section 2.02 (c) of this Agreement, the proceeds of the Loan shall not be used to finance any of the following expenditures: 1. expenditures in the currency of the Borrower or for goods or services supplied from the territory of the Borrower; 2. expenditures for goods or services supplied under a contract which any national or international financing institution or agency other than the Bank or the Association shall have financed or agreed to finance, or which the Bank or the Association shall have financed or agreed to finance under another loan or a credit; 3. expenditures for goods included in the following groups or subgroups of the Standard International Trade Classification, Revision 3 (SITC, Rev.3), published by the United Nations in Statistical Papers, Series M, No. 34/Rev.3 (1986) (the SITC), or any successor groups or subgroups under future revisions to the SITC, as designated by the Bank by notice to the Borrower: Group Subgroup Description of Items 112 - Alcoholic beverages 121 - Tobacco, unmanu- factured, tobacco refuse 122 - Tobacco, manufactured (whether or not containing tobacco substitutes) 525 - Radioactive and associated materials 667 - Pearls, precious and semiprecious stones, unworked or worked 718 718.7 Nuclear reactors, and Page 11 - 9 - parts thereof; fuel elements (cartridges), non-irradiated, for nuclear reactors 728 728.43 Tobacco processing machinery 897 897.3 Jewelry of gold, silver or platinum group metals (except watches and watch cases) and goldsmiths’ or silversmiths’ wares (including set gems) 971 - Gold, non-monetary (excluding gold ores and concentrates) 4. expenditures for goods intended for a military or paramilitary purpose or for luxury consumption; 5. expenditures for environmentally hazardous goods (for purposes of this paragraph the term “environmentally hazardous goods” means goods, the manufacture, use or import of which is prohibited under the laws of the Borrower or international agreements to which the Borrower is a party); 6. expenditures: (a) in the territories of any country which is not a member of the Bank or for goods procured in, or services supplied from, such territories; or (b) on account of any payment to persons or entities, or any import of goods, if such payment or import is prohibited by a decision of the United Nations Security Council taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations; and 7. expenditures under a contract in respect of which the Bank determines that corrupt or fraudulent practices were engaged in by representatives of the Borrower or of a beneficiary of the Loan during the procurement or execution of such contract, without the Borrower having taken timely and appropriate action satisfactory to the Bank to remedy the situation. Page 12 - 10 - SCHEDULE 2 Actions Referred to in Recital (B) of the Preamble to this Agreement 1. The Borrower has taken the decision to extend the compulsory education from six to eleven years of schooling scheduled to be fully implemented by 2005. 2. The Borrower has enacted the Appropriation (2001-2002) Act 2001 (Act No. 11 of 2001) allocating under Vote 16-1 recurrent expenditures of the amount of MUR 3,997,000,000 to the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research. In addition, the Borrower has allocated capital expenditures of MUR 1,636,300,010 to the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research. 3. The Borrower under Vote 7-1 of the Appropriation (2001-2002) Act 2001 (Act No. 11 of 2001) has allocated recurrent expenditures of the amount of MUR 1,298,285,000 to the Ministry of Local Government and Rodrigues, of which MUR 593,400,000 is for Rodrigues. In addition, the Borrower has allocated capital expenditures of MUR 479,000,050 to Rodrigues. 4. The Borrower has approved the Action Plan for Poverty Alleviation dated July 2001. 5. The Borrower has enacted the Wastewater Management Authority Act 2000 (Act No. 39 of 2000), and published regulations (the Wastewater (Fees) Regulations 2001) under Sections 25 and 47 of the Wastewater Management Authority Act 2000 to revise wastewater fees. 6. The Borrower has invited Expressions of Interest for, inter alia, the carrying out of the feasibility study, detailed engineering and preparation of bidding documents for the alternative mode of transport (AMT) system between Curepipe and Port Louis. 7. The Borrower has enacted the Finance Act 2001 (Act No. 23 of 2001) providing, inter alia, for the amendment of the Value Added Tax Act 1998 by increasing the VAT rate from 10 to 12 percent. 8. The Borrower has published regulations under Sections 3 and 35 of the Consumer Protection (Price and Supplies Control) Act to increase domestic petroleum prices (Regulations 2000). 9. The Borrower has approved the establishment of a high-level committee to discuss the scope and focus of the Borrower’s Medium Term Expenditure Framework. Page 13 - 11 - SCHEDULE 3 Amortization Schedule 1. The following table sets forth the Principal Payment Dates of the Loan and the percentage of the total principal amount of the Loan payable on each Principal Payment Date (Installment Share). If the proceeds of the Loan shall have been fully withdrawn as of the first Principal Payment Date, the principal amount of the Loan repayable by the Borrower on each Principal Payment Date shall be determined by the Bank by multiplying: (a) the total principal amount of the Loan withdrawn and outstanding as of the first Principal Payment Date; by (b) the Installment Share for each Principal Payment Date, such repayment amount to be adjusted, as necessary, to deduct any amounts referred to in paragraph 4 of this Schedule, to which a Currency Conversion applies. Installment Share Payment Date (Expressed as a %) On each April 1 and October 1 Beginning October 1, 2007 through April 1, 2017 5 % 2. If the proceeds of the Loan shall not have been fully withdrawn as of the first Principal Payment Date, the principal amount of the Loan repayable by the Borrower on each Principal Payment Date shall be determined as follows: (a) To the extent that any proceeds of the Loan shall have been withdrawn as of the first Principal Payment Date, the Borrower shall repay the amount withdrawn and outstanding as of such date in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Schedule. (b) Any withdrawal made after the first Principal Payment Date shall be repaid on each Principal Payment Date falling after the date of such withdrawal in amounts determined by the Bank by multiplying the amount of each such withdrawal by a fraction, the numerator of which shall be the original Installment Share specified in the table in paragraph 1 of this Schedule for said Principal Payment Date (the Original Installment Share) and the denominator of which shall be the sum of all remaining Original Installment Shares for Principal Payment Dates falling on or after such date, such repayment amounts to be adjusted, as necessary, to deduct any amounts referred to in paragraph 4 of this Schedule, to which a Currency Conversion applies. Page 14 - 12 - 3. (a) Withdrawals made within two calendar months prior to any Principal Payment Date shall, for the purposes solely of calculating the principal amounts payable on any Principal Payment Date, be treated as withdrawn and outstanding on the second Principal Payment Date following the date of withdrawal and shall be repayable on each Principal Payment Date commencing with the second Principal Payment Date following the date of withdrawal. (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph 3, if at any time the Bank shall adopt a due date billing system under which invoices are issued on or after the respective Principal Payment Date, the provisions of such sub-paragraph shall no longer apply to any withdrawals made after the adoption of such billing system. 4. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Schedule, upon a Currency Conversion of all or any portion of the withdrawn principal amount of the Loan to an Approved Currency, the amount so converted in said Approved Currency that shall be repayable on any Principal Payment Date occurring during the Conversion Period, shall be determined by the Bank by multiplying such amount in its currency of denomination immediately prior to said Conversion by either: (i) the exchange rate that reflects the amounts of principal in said Approved Currency payable by the Bank under the Currency Hedge Transaction relating to said Conversion; or (ii) if the Bank so determines in accordance with the Conversion Guidelines, the exchange rate component of the Screen Rate. 5. If the principal amount of the Loan withdrawn and outstanding from time to time shall be denominated in more than one Loan Currency, the provisions of this Schedule shall apply separately to the amount denominated in each Loan Currency, so as to produce a separate amortization schedule for each such amount.