Russia. FinMin to provide credit to Belarus from EurAsEC fund
2011-05-11 18:04:56
Russia’s Finance Ministry is considering a possibility of providing a credit to Belarus only from the EurAsEC fund, Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told journalists on Wednesday.
Commenting on the pace of the Russian-Belarusian talks on providing the three billion dollar credit, Kudrin said, “We are considering ways to provide the credit to Belarus only from the EurAsEC fund.”
According to the finance minister, by the end of the week the EurAsEC is trying to work out key approaches towards providing the credit to Belarus.
Kudrin did not rule out that certain decisions might be made public in the course of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to Minsk slated for next week. “We are doing our best to determine all problems,” the Russian finance minister said.
“We are taking constructive efforts and we see that Belarus understands the existing problems,” Kudrin said.
In his words, the participants in the talks are discussing ways to provide one billion U.S. dollars to Belarus from the EurAsEC fund in 2011. Afterwards in 2012 and in 2013 the EurAsEC may provide credits to Belarus annually, the Russian vice prime minister said.
At the same time, Kudrin recognised that such funding might be insufficient for Belarus. “That is why the republic should address the International Monetary Fund,” he noted. “Russia will be ready to uphold Belarus if it decides to address the IMF and other international organisations.” “The IMF can lay down additional conditions,” Kudrin said.
The Russian vice prime minister also said Belarus could request assistance to third countries on a bilateral basis.
In addition, Belarus can raise over two billion U.S. dollars through privatisation of government-owned assets this year, Kudrin said. He believes that Belarus should take a programme of privatisation. Thus, other countries can show interest in taking part in it, the Russian vice prime minister said.
He recalled that two years ago Belarus had adopted a special programme “in order to become one of the countries, which is more attractive for foreign investors. Thus, Belarus is set these tasks. We only uphold these decisions”.