Prime Minister Raman Halouchanka said that the authorities expect to receive the first tranche of the Russian loan by the end of 2020, BelTA reports. This money is to be used to refinance past Russian loans.
According to the head of government, the loan agreement has not yet been signed. Only its terms are being discussed now.
“The loan will be allocated if an intergovernmental agreement is signed. The conditions are being worked out now. We are moving according to plan, the goals are outlined — to support the economy. I think, by the end of the year we will get it, if nothing happens,” Raman Halouchanka said.
On September 14 in Sochi, Alyaksandr Lukashenka agreed with Vladimir Putin on the allocation of a new loan to Belarus in the amount of $ 1.5 billion.
On September 16, Lukashenka announced that Russian money would be used to refinance past loans. This year alone Belarus is to pay the Russian Federation $ 1 billion in old debt. “It was my request to the leadership of Russia that we do not pay this billion this year, we keep it and postpone it to next year. The percentage rate there is acceptable. That is, it is a question of refinancing,” he said.
As explained by the Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Anton Siluanov, Belarus should receive a loan in two stages — $ 1 billion in 2020 (half of it at the expense of the EFSD, half at the expense of intergovernmental credit) and $ 500 million in 2021. At the same time, most of the money from the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development will go to pay off the debt to the Russian state corporation Gazprom (the debt is slightly less than $ 330 million).
