Russian group lends Belarus US$3b
Source: Agencies |
June 6, 2011, Monday
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FINANCIALLY struggling Belarus is to receive a US$3 billion loan from a Russia-dominated group in exchange for privatizing a large chunk of its state-controlled economy.
The loan, which is to be distributed over three years, was approved last Saturday at a meeting of the finance ministers of the Eurasian Economic Community, which comprises six former Soviet republics.
Analysts have said Belarus may need as much as US$9 billion in aid to get the economy on track. Belarus this month said it was asking the International Monetary Fund for a loan of up to US$8 billion.
Belarus' central bank last month cut the value of its ruble by almost half against the dollar, and store shelves have emptied as residents rushed to buy up goods.
Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said the terms for the US$3 billion loan to be provided over three years require Belarus to privatize state enterprises worth an estimated US$7.5 billion during the same period.
The enterprises to be privatized were not specified, but Russia has had its sights on Belarus' energy assets such as oil refineries and Beltransgas, the state-owned gas pipeline network that supplies domestic homes and forwards the gas to Europe. Russia's state energy giant Gazprom already owns 50 percent of Beltransgas and is negotiating to buy the remaining 50 percent.
The loan, which is to be distributed over three years, was approved last Saturday at a meeting of the finance ministers of the Eurasian Economic Community, which comprises six former Soviet republics.
Analysts have said Belarus may need as much as US$9 billion in aid to get the economy on track. Belarus this month said it was asking the International Monetary Fund for a loan of up to US$8 billion.
Belarus' central bank last month cut the value of its ruble by almost half against the dollar, and store shelves have emptied as residents rushed to buy up goods.
Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said the terms for the US$3 billion loan to be provided over three years require Belarus to privatize state enterprises worth an estimated US$7.5 billion during the same period.
The enterprises to be privatized were not specified, but Russia has had its sights on Belarus' energy assets such as oil refineries and Beltransgas, the state-owned gas pipeline network that supplies domestic homes and forwards the gas to Europe. Russia's state energy giant Gazprom already owns 50 percent of Beltransgas and is negotiating to buy the remaining 50 percent.
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