RIA Novosti: The Armenian Cabinet of Ministers approves raising a US $300 million loan from Eurasian Development Bank

On Thursday, the Armenian government approved the signature of the agreement with Eurasian Development Bank on raising a "soft" long-term budget loan of US $300 million. According to Minister of Finance Gagik Khachatryan, who presented the document for discussion, the loan will be used to finance budget expenditure. "The loan will help to improve financial stability in the power sector, business conditions and the effectiveness of public finance administration," he said. The loan will be provided for twenty years, with a ten-year grace period, at 2.1%. It will be disbursed in three tranches of US $100 million each based on applications from the Armenian side, before 31 March 2018. EDB is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. The member states of EDB are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, and Tajikistan.