Sub-Saharan Africa Compared by Economy > External debt > Terms > Average grant element on new external debt commitments > Official

DEFINITION: The grant element of a loan is the grant equivalent expressed as a percentage of the amount committed. It is used as a measure of the overall cost of borrowing. To obtain the average, the grant elements for all public and publicly guaranteed loans have been weighted by the amounts of the loans. The grant equivalent of a loan is its commitment (present) value, less the discounted present value of its contractual debt service; conventionally, future service payments are discounted at 10 percent. Commitments cover the total amount of loans for which contracts were signed in the year specified. Debt from official creditors includes loans from international organisations (multilateral loans) and loans from governments (bilateral loans). Loans from international organisation include loans and credits from the World Bank, regional development banks, and other multilateral and intergovernmental agencies. Excluded are loans from funds administered by an international organisation on behalf of a single donor government; these are classified as loans from governments. Government loans include loans from governments and their agencies (including central banks), loans from autonomous bodies, and direct loans from official export credit agencies.".