Russia does not give third tranche of loan
- 28.05.2012, 15:50
The Finance Ministry of Belarus states there are no results in the dialogue with Anti-crisis Fund of EurAsEc.
Issuing the third tranche of $440 mln of $3 bn stabilization loan is not discussed now.
“The work on receiving the third tranche is underway. When there will be concrete results, we are going to inform about that,” Interfax-Zapad agency was told by the spokesperson of the Finance Ministry of Belarus Iryna Komar.
As it was informed, on May 17 Finance Minister Andrei Kharkavets stated that he expected to “dot all the i’s” in the dialogue with the Anti-crisis Fund on May 24, during the investment forum Astana Invest 2012, where he had plans to meet with the leadership of the Finance Ministry of Russia and experts of the ACF. As said by him, then it had been expected to reach agreements on offering Belarus the third tranche of the stabilization loan.
It was also informed earlier that the main obstacle to get the loan for Minsk was the demand of the ACF to tighten monetary, credit and budget policy with the aim to reinforce the positive results of the macroeconomic stabilization, which had been reached by the Belarusian authorities after the currency and financial crisis in 2011. The measures offered by the Fund require changing of the key plan documents for 2012, which are authorized by Lukashenka’s decrees. Besides, the Belarusian side finds the stabilization irreversible, and believes that recommendations of the ACF are just additional safety net mechanisms.
As it had been reported, in June 2011 the ACF of the EurAsEc approved issuing the stabilization loan of $3 bn in 2011-2013 for Belarus. It is accompanying the stabilization program which is aimed at stabilization of the payment balance of the country. In 2011 Minsk received $1.24 billion. For the year 2012 it is planned to issue two tranches of $880. According to the initial schedule, issuing of the third tranche of $440 mln was planned for February 2012.
After a visit of the EABD (Euroasian Bank for Development, in charge of the ACF) experts to Minsk in January this year, on the proposal of the bank the government of Belarus and the National Bank were to draft an amended letter of intent to reform the economy, which is supported by the means of the ACF.
Approval of such a letter is a condition for granting Minsk the third tranche, as it allows the Fund to determine the date of the ACF Council’s session, where the final decision could be adopted. In the third ten-day period of March the ACF received the draft letter of intent from the government of Belarus.