BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

30/01/2009

Russian PM Putin: Second Belarus Bailout Approved

MOSCOW (AFP)--Russia Friday approved a second billion-dollar loan to Belarus as part of an economic aid package for the neighboring state, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

"We are to speed up the transfer of a second tranche of credit to be provided by Russia to Belarus, worth $1 billion," Putin said at a meeting in Moscow with Belarussian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky, quoted by ITAR-TASS and Interfax.

The move came after Russia granted Belarus an earlier $1 billion loan in November, as tougher economic conditions began to bite, tightening conditions for obtaining credit and hitting exports by Belarus' oil refining sector.

In addition Moscow has been raising gas prices it charges Belarus closer to Western levels.

Critics have accused Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko of failing to push forward market reforms that might diversify the economy, leaving the country of 10 million people heavily dependent on Russia.

This month, the International Monetary Fund granted Belarus a loan of $2.46 billion, after Belarussian authorities agreed to devalue the local currency by more than a fifth against the dollar over the New Year.

Putin said Friday he and Sidorsky also discussed creating a single "regional currency," a move likely in practice to sideline Belarus' own ruble national currency.

The two sides also signed an anti-crisis plan that includes simplification of customs regulations.

Source:

http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/russian-pm-putin-second-belarus-bailout-approved-607302

Google
 


Partners:
Face.by Social Network
Face.by