Belarus to get second part of Russian loan in February 2009
28.11.2008 13:36
Belarus will get the second $1 billion tranche of the Russian loan in February 2009, Belarus Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov told media on November 28.
“We have recently received the first $1 billion part of the Russian loan and there are prospects of getting $1 billion more in February,” said Andrei Kobyakov. He said, the resources may be granted in Russian rubles. “It doesn’t matter what currency the resources will be. We will discuss it thoroughly by the deadline for getting the loan,” added Andrei Kobyakov.
November 18 saw the first $1 billion tranche of the Russian stabilisation loan transferred to the Finance Ministry account in the National Bank of Belarus. The money was transferred in line with the Belarusian-Russian agreement inked by Vice-Premier, Finance Minister of Russia Aleksei Kudrin and Finance Minister of Belarus Andrei Kharkovets. In accordance with the agreement the Russian Federation is supposed to grant a $2 billion stabilisation loan to Belarus in 2008-2009.
The Russian state loan has been granted to Belarus for 15 years at LIBOR +3% with a five-year deferment on the principal debt. In 2007 Russia gave a $1.5 billion stabilisation loan to Belarus for 15 years at LIBOR +0.75% with a five-year delay on the principal debt.
