RESTRICTED  
  
WT/BFA/W/438  
 
1 March  2018 
(18-1298) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration    
 
SUSPENSION OF ADMINISTRATIVE MEASU RES FOR  
THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC  
1  BACKGROUND  
1.1.  Pursuant to a written request from the Central African Republic, and a recommendation from 
the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration i n 2010, the General Council approved a 
payment plan for the Central African Republic to liquidate its cumulative arrears over 30 years .  
1.2.  The condition was that the Central African Repu blic would pay an amoun t of CHF  26,657 per 
annum, for a period of 30 years, in order to settle its cumulative arrears. In addition, the Central 
African Republic was required to pay its annual contributions due from 2010 onwards. If these two 
conditions were met  the Administrativ e Measures of the Country would be  suspended.   
1.3.  The Central African Republic's arrears as at 31 March 2010 amount ed to CHF  1,125,246 . The 
Central African Republic benefit ted from a specific payment mechanism for arrears , prior to 1988 , 
approved by the Gener al Council in 19941, which allow ed its arrears of contributions to be reduced 
to CHF 828,105.  This represent ed a potential  write-off of CHF 297,141  of its arrears, had the 
Central African Republic stayed on course regarding the agreed payment plan .  
1.4.  From 2010 to 2013, the Central African Republic paid a total of  CHF 169,473  towards its 
arrears as well as its annual contributions . Since 2013,  no more payments at all have been  made 
by the country.  As a consequence , the country was reinstated in Category III of the Administrative 
Measures , due to non -compliance with the terms  of the agreed payment plan . 
1.5.  In December 2017, an amount of CHF 53,537  was received from the Central African 
Republic. In accordance with the Regulation 16 of the WTO Financial Regulations  
(WT/L/156/Rev.32, this payment was applied against the longest standing  arrears.  
2  REQUEST FOR A PAYMEN T PLAN  
2.1.  In February 2018, the Central African Republic submitted an official communication to the 
Director General of the WTO requesting that a new paymen t plan be established for the country's 
arrears to be settled over 30 years and that it be suspended from Administrative Measures.  
2.2.  In view of 2.1 above, the WTO Secretariat is proposing  a payment  plan to liquidate the 
arrears of the Central African Rep ublic, based on the following:  
a. As at 1 January 2018 , the Central African Republic's  arrears , pertaining to a period of 
33 years, amount to CHF 1,032,190 . 
b. The specific payment mechanism for arrears prior to 1988 , which permits a write -off of 
part of the arrears prior to 1988, had fallen off due to the fact that the country had 
stopped complying with the payment plan. With the reinstatement of this, the arrears for 
the Central African Republic will be reduced to CHF  873,735.   
                                                
1 Document C/M/273, para. 11.  
2 Document WT/L/156/Rev.3, Regulation 16 : "Any payment in respect of contributions made by a 
Member which has not paid in full its contribution for previous calendar years shall, unless the General Council 
decides otherwise, be credited against the earliest date of such arrears. " WT/BFA/W/438  
 
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  c. The Central African Republic should undertake to abide by the s chedule of instalment 
payments aimed at liquidating all arrears over a period of 30 years  as per Table 1 below . 
d. The Central African Republic  should undertake  to pay its annual contr ibution for 2018 and 
every year thereafter. T he Central  African Republic's contribution due for 2018 is  
CHF 29,325.  
e. Therefore, the amount that the Central African Republic should pay in 2018  in order for 
the Administrative Measures to be suspended  is CHF 57,472 .  
Table 1: Schedule of Payment of Arrears  
Number of 
Years  Years  Instalments  Outstanding  
Arrears as at 20 February 2018  1,002,865   
Write -off of arrears prior to 1988  (158,455)  
Total arrears as at 31 December 2017  844,410  
Year 1  2018 (28,147)  816,263  
Year 2  2019 (28,147)  788,116  
Year 3  2020 (28,147)  759,969  
Year 4  2021 (28,147)  731,822  
Year 5  2022 (28,147)  703,675  
Year 6  2023 (28,147)  675,528  
Year 7  2024 (28,147)  647,381  
Year 8  2025 (28,147)  619,234  
Year 9  2026 (28,147)  591,087  
Year 10  2027 (28,147)  562,940  
Year 11  2028 (28,147)  534,793  
Year 12  2029 (28,147)  506,646  
Year 13  2030 (28,147)  478,499  
Year 14  2031 (28,147)  450,352  
Year 15  2032 (28,147)  422,205  
Year 16  2033 (28,147)  394,058  
Year 17  2034 (28,147)  365,911  
Year 18  2035 (28,147)  337,764  
Year 19  2036 (28,147)  309,617  
Year 20  2037 (28,147)  281,470  
Year 21  2038 (28,147)  253,323  
Year 22  2039 (28,147)  225,176  
Year 23  2040 (28,147)  197,029  
Year 24  2041 (28,147)  168,882  
Year 25  2042 (28,147)  140,735  
Year 26  2043 (28,147)  112,588  
Year 27  2044 (28,147)  84,441  
Year 28  2045 (28,147)  56,294  
Year 29  2046 (28,147)  28,147  
Year 30  2047 (28,147)  0 WT/BFA/W/438  
 
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  2.3.  In accordance with the decision of the General Council of 15 November  20123, the  
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration recommends that the General Council 
suspend the application of Administrative Measures for the Central African Republic  with 
the proviso that the Central African Republic undertakes , in writing, to abide by the 
schedule of instalment payments for liquidating all arrears over a period of 30 years . 
The payments must be received no later than 31 December of each year, starting in 
2018, failing which the administrative measures will be reinstated.  
 
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3 Document WT/GC/M/138.