Belarus will have privatized assets totaling $ 7.5 billion by 2014. This was stated by Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. According to him, it fits in the conditions of the credit program of the Eurasian Economic Community. According to Kudrin, EurAsEC will provide the official Minsk with $1.24 billion loans this year.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister explained that the Belarusian leadership is going to receive this very amount of the planned $3 billion loan in 2011, and the first tranche should reach $800 million. State community members will take the final decision at a meeting of the CIS finance ministers on June 4.
«We have finalized all the materials to loan Belarus from EurAsEC Crisis Fund,» RIA «Novosti» quoted Kudrin.
Minister of Finance says that the loan will be provided in installments within three years. «In 2011, $1.24 billion out of $3 billion will be allocated at the request of Belarus. The first tranche will be sent within one week following the decision of the anti-crisis fund,» he said.
Russia Not to «Pump» Belarus with Finances, Russian Official
Russia is not going to blindly allocate money to the Belarusian authorities and pump the country with finances. Official Moscow «requires economic calculations,» said a senior Russian official.
«The thesis that we won’t help for nothing, blindly giving money and pumping additional funds, is true,» said the source.
He added that any program should be transparent and based on economic calculations.
At the moment, foreign debt of Belarus is more than $10 billion, and the government needs to borrow to cover the trade deficit. This indicator, according to the National Statistics Committee, reached $3.5 billion in January-March 2011.
As Telegraf previously reported, Alexei Kudrin said earlier that Belarus should privatize enterprises for $3 billion for 2011. He also said the rate of the EurAsEC Crisis Fund loans for the Belarusian authorities would not be lower than those for Russia and Kazakhstan.
Experts believe that the countries-creditors of Belarus will lay down conditions for macroeconomic stabilization. In particular, reducing social expenditure is on the table.
