The Ministry of Finance waiting for loan from EurAsEC

Belarus intends to decide on the allocation of a third tranche of the EurAsEC Anti-Crisis Fund loan this year.

"The needed paperwork should be done. So I'd put it off till May-June," stated Finance Minister of Belarus Andrei Kharkovets. According to him, Belarus expects to receive two tranches by the end of this year.

"Certainly, we’re talking about two tranches, to be exact, about the tranche, which was to have been in the first quarter of this year. It’s still on the way here and, of course, the next installment is the objective of this program," said the minister, reports BelTA.

Andrei Kharkovets says that Belarus has sent a proposal to the anti-crisis fund with regard to the action program of the Government and the National Bank. The program contains "a few positions, for which we are, literally, in discussion with the Anti-Crisis Fund."

"According to our estimates, we may finish this discussion in May. Next week in Astana we are planning to meet with experts from the Anti-Crisis Fund and the Ministry of Finance of Russia to discuss these few issues. Either they will agree with our position or we will accept an offer of the anti-crisis fund," he said, adding that then the necessary documents could be signed fairly quickly.

"Anti-Crisis Fund offered more stringent specification than those prescribed in our main areas of development of the monetary policy and the budget for the current year. We slightly disagree here, as our performance and documents are completely balanced. We are working within the framework of these documents and the recent situation shows that the macroeconomic, monetary and fiscal policies are absolutely balanced today. They are working to obtain the result, we’ve set for ourselves. Here there are no issues that would make us adjust our plans today," said the Minister.

According to him, a proposal of anti-crisis fund to tighten these figures forcers Belarus to radically revise them. "But it’s not just difficult, but even incorrect to do so right amid the whole process, given that these documents are adopted by the State and approved by the budget law. This is where the differences arise. I think if we convincingly show that our predictions are being implemented today and will have been implemented by the end of the year, it will be the basis for the partners’ willingness to agree with our position, although we are ready for a compromise," said the head of the Treasury.

Сhairman of the National Bank Nadezhda Ermakova said on March 14 that there're some structural differences between Belarus and the EurAsEC Anti-Crisis Fund over the terms for granting a loan. "In principle, we comply with the conditions of the Anti-Crisis Fund agreement. But the Fund deems it necessary to tighten these conditions," she stated.