Belarus asked USD 1.5 billion credit from Russia :: Charter'97 :: News

It was reported in the ministry of finance of Belarus on Thursday 22 February that the Belarusian government turned to the Russian government for a stand-by credit of USD 1.5 billion. According to the source from the ministry of finance, a final amount and a period have not been settled, yet. Now the government is waiting for the Russian party’s answer.

As Telegraf reports with reference to BelTA, in the ministry of finance they explained that a request for a stand-by credit was grounded by a sharp price hike for energy resources resulting in additional budget expenses.

It is to be mentioned, that 7 February when speaking to the ministry of finance board Syargei Sidorsky ordered the financiers to attract USD 500 million of outside borrowings to the Belarusian economy by the end of March.

“I am sure that not later than in March the ministry of finance will lay minimum USD 500 million on the table. This facility will be effectively employed”, the Prime Minister assured.

Head of the Government also stressed that the Cabinet of Ministers planned to attract USD 500 million of outside borrowings to the Belarusian economy in 2007.

“We have got the opportunities. Thousands of largest banks are ready to provide billions of dollars to the government of Belarus, the Belarusian Prime Minister declared. The government can easily attract USD 1.5 billion of outside borrowings this year.”

Meanwhile, 6 February minister of finance of Belarus Mikalai Korbut announced that the country was planning to borrow around USD billion for rebating the raised prices for Russian energy sources.