BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/12/2007

Russia Offers Belarus $1.5 Billion Stabilization Loan

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed in Minsk on December 14 a memorandum on bilateral economic relations and a joint statement on the results of their talks, Belapan reported. Both sides pledged to meet their obligations under earlier economic agreements and to honor a long-term deal signed on December 31, 2006, which provides for a gradual increase in the price of natural gas supplied to Belarus. Russia also pledged to provide Belarus with a $1.5 billion stabilization loan to ease the effects of the higher gas price. "There will be a rise in the [gas] price but only in the manner provided for by previous contracts, despite the fact that Russia itself will buy Turkmen gas at higher prices," Putin said. RIA Novosti later reported, quoting an unnamed source at Gazprom, that the Russian gas monopoly will supply natural gas to Belarus at $119 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter of 2008. Under the long-term deal, the gas price for Belarus will gradually increase to the European market level by 2011, rising from 67 percent of the market level in 2008 to 80 percent in 2009, 90 percent in 2010, and 100 percent in 2011. AM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/12/3-cee/cee-171207.asp