BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
04/03/2007
Minsk, Mar 3 (NNN-BELTA) Belarus plans to obtain a stabilisation loan from Russia in the second half of the year, Belarus finance minister Nikolai Korbut told media today.
According to the official, it is difficult to obtain the loan in H1 2007, because the procedure is quite time consuming.
The sides have not held any negotiations on this issue yet, said Nikolai Korbut. The final sum and terms of the loan agreement will mostly depend on Russia.
BelTA reported earlier, in January 2007, the Belarusian government requested the Russian Federation government to appropriate a stabilisation loan as large as US$1.5 billion to Belarus. The request was put down to the need to finance additional state budgetary expenses caused by the sharp increase in energy prices.
Nikolai Korbut also reminded, this yeara?Ts national budget deficit is expected to total Br1.4 trillion, or 1.5% of the GDP. To finance the deficit, the government plans to borrow Br1.256 billion.
The finance ministry is now studying ways of getting the investments, considering both forms of the borrowing (syndicated borrowing, flotation of securities) and terms (long-term and short-term borrowing).
Proposals of the world's five largest banks, which offer untied loans to Belarus, are under consideration. This year's state budget law envisages the borrowing of around $500 million of foreign loans. The finance ministry is now working on borrowing a more substantial sum - about $1 billion.
Apart from that, the necessary measures have been taken to float Belarusian government bonds in Russia.
The finance minister also noted, the choice of the country's rating consultant is at the examination stage. In accordance to the plan of cooperation with international agencies for assigning a sovereign credit rating to Belarus, the country is expected to get the rating in the first half of 2007.
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