Belarus’ foreign debt nears critical line

Belarus’ joint external debt as of April 1, 2008 was $13 bn 630 mln, and it has grown by 8% over the first quarter of this year (by $1.007 bn).

As believed by the former head of the National bank of Belarus Stanislau Bahdankevich, such a growth of the joint debt is still acceptable for Belarus. “Another thing is, that this debt has almost grown twice over this year. And it is alarming that most money goes for eating away, not for technical modernization or newest technologies,” he told in an interview to BelaPAN.

It should be added that Belarus is actively negotiating with Russia over a credit of 2 bn dollars. In case it is received, the external debt of our country would reach near the critical line, after that the country is to become insolvent.

As an economist Leanid Zlotnikau said recently in an interview to Euroradio, it is accepted to consider in the world practice that “external debts shouldn’t exceed 60% of the state budget or export volume. When the external debt of belarus will reach 20 bn, we are to draw near the line after which the country gets insolvent. It’s the line after which nobody would give credits,” Zlotnikau said.