BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

08/08/2007

Belarus to pay off Russian gas debt soon

Belarus has made another installment of 66 million U.S. dollars to Russian gas giant Gazprom on Tuesday and will pay off about 60 million dollars more -- the rest of its gas debt of 456.16 million dollars -- by Wednesday morning, a Belarussian Energy Ministry spokesman said in Minsk.

The spokesman was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that Belarus had paid a 330-million share of the debt since Friday.

On Wednesday Gazprom said it would cut gas supplies to the country by 45 percent as of August 3 due to the debt, and lack of payment guarantees.

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko pledged on Thursday that the debt of 460 million dollars that accumulated in the first half would be paid over the coming days. He said that the country's gold and currency reserves, a state credit from Venezuela and a credit from Western banks would be used to pay the debt.

Gazprom delayed a reduction in supplies to Belarus by one week after it confirmed Friday that Belarus had made a 190 million U.S. dollars installment toward its 460 million dollars debt.

Source: Xinhua

Source:

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/6234204.html