Tonga’s repayment of its $119 million pa'anga concessional loan from China that was scheduled to start this year, has been deferred for another five years.

Reuters News Agency reported that Lopeti Senituli, a political adviser of the Prime Minister, ‘Akilisi Pohiva, stated yesterday, Sunday 18 November that Tonga had signed the “Belt and Road” Memorandum of Understanding, and that the repayment of the loan had been deferred for another five years.

There has been no press statement from the Prime Minister's Office or Ministry of Finance in Tonga today regarding the reported deferment of the loan principal and interest.

The loan from the Exim Bank of China was approved by the Tongan Parliament on 2 July 2007 for the reconstruction of the Nuku’alofa CBD after it was ravaged in riots on 16 November 2006.

The repayment of the loan was scheduled to start in 2013, but Tonga and the Exim Bank agreed to defer the repayment of the principal of the loan for five years.

Tonga was scheduled to start repaying its loan, interest plus principal this financial year, 2018-19.

Tonga is reported to have joined Samoa and Papua New Guinea as the only three Pacific Island countries to have joined the China Belt and Road Initiative. Fiji last week, apparently had made a commitment to join.