On the occasion announcing the successful syndication of the South African Reserve Bank and the National Treasury’s USD1,5 billion Term Loan Facility. The South African Reserve Bank and the National Treasury are pleased to announce the successful conclusion of a syndicated term loan facility for a total amount of USD1,5 billion. The Bank, together with the National Treasury, embarked on negotiations with foreign banks to enter into a three-year syndicated term loan. As the loan agreement allows for drawdown by the Reserve Bank and/or the National Treasury, it also makes it possible for the Net Open Foreign Currency Position1 (NOFP) of the Reserve Bank to be improved should the National Treasury elect to be the borrower. (The NOFP has declined dramatically from USD23,2 billion as recently as 30 September 1998 to a level of USD4,8 billion as at 31 July 2001.) The facility documentation was signed in Cape Town on 30 July 2001. The transaction was over-subscribed with the Lead Arrangers, Co-Arrangers, Senior Lead Managers and Lead Managers prepared to commit USD3,250 billion to the facility. The international banking community has thus been willing to commit more than double the amount envisaged. Against the background of a transaction period characterised by risk aversion and some turbulence in emerging markets, this not only bears testimony to strong banking relationships but also represents a clear vote of confidence in the soundness of the country’s fundamentals and its management of fiscal and monetary policies.Partly as a result of the reduction in the NOFP referred to above, the vulnerability of South Africa’s public finances to a depreciation of the rand has declined and the net external public debt, as a percentage of gross domestic product, is on a par with some of those prevailing in certain G10 countries. This makes South Africa itself less vulnerable to future shocks which may emerge by virtue of volatile international financial markets. This view is reinforced if cognisance is taken of 2001 estimates of foreign debt as a percentage of exports of goods and services, as published in The Economist 21 July 2001 - of the 22 designated emerging-market economies, South Africa ranks eighth best in terms of that criterion. USD 1,5 billion syndicated term loan facilityInternational banks were invited to join at one of the following levels:Title Commitment amount Participation fee Lead ArrangerUSD150million45 bps flatCo-ArrangerUSD75million45 bps flatSenior Lead ManagerUSD50million30 bps flatLead ManagerUSD25million20 bps flat The facility is available in US Dollars and Euros and pays a margin of 85 bps over LIBOR/EURIBOR.The final allocations for the Lenders are as follows: Lead ArrangersUSD69millionCo-ArrangersUSD36millionSenior Lead Managers     USD23millionLead ManagersUSD12million Besides the 18 Lead Arrangers, 2 Co-Arrangers, 6 Senior Lead Managers and 4 Lead Managers joined the syndicated facility.The final list of Lenders is as follows:Lead ArrangersBank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd (The) (Joint Bookrunner)Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank AG (Joint Bookrunner)Bayerische Landesbank Girozentrale (Information Package)BHF-Bank AGBNP ParibasCitibank N.A. (Joint Bookrunner)Crédit Agricole Indosuez (Signing and Publicity)Commerzbank AG (Documentation Agent)Deutsche Bank AGDresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (Facility Agent)Goldman Sachs InternationalHSBC Investment Bank plcJP Morgan Chase (Joint Bookrunner)Mizuho Financial GroupMorgan StanleyStandard Bank LondonUBS AGWestdeutsche Landesbank GirozentraleCo-ArrangersChina Construction BankNatexis Banques PopulairesSenior Lead ManagersBank of TaiwanDGZ DekabankLandesbank Rheinland-PfalzRaiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AGSanwa Bank LimitedSumitomo Bank LimitedLead ManagersBank of MontrealBanque Internationale Des MascareignesErste Bank der Österreichischen SparkassenKBC Bank NVThe Reserve Bank and the National Treasury would like to express their appreciation to the banks for supporting this important transaction.For further information, please contact:Mr L. (Bertus) van Zyl/Mr Danie