Almaty, 6 June 2011. The EurAsEC Anti-Crisis Fund’s (ACF) Council approved, at a session in Kiev on Saturday, a US$3 billion financial credit to the Republic of Belarus to be provided over three years.
The loan is provided for ten years and will be disbursed in six tranches. The first tranche of US$800 million will be transferred within the next two weeks, after the Financial Credit Agreement between the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), as the ACF Manager, and the Republic of Belarus takes effect.
The second and subsequent tranches of US$440 million each will be provided to Belarus as it implements the agreed measures under the government programme to stabilise the country’s balance of payments and improve the competitiveness of its economy. The programme includes measures to reduce emission lending to the economy, strengthen fiscal discipline and replenish international reserves to the level that ensures economic stability.
The members of the ACF Council deemed the economic policy measures included in the Belarus’ government stabilisation programme to be compelling and sufficient to achieve its goals, and therefore resolved to provide the ACF’s financial credit to the country.
The financial terms of the loan conform to the standard terms of financial credits as approved by the ACF Council for its middle-income member countries. The interest rate is based on Russia’s cost of funding in the international markets (today it stands at about 4.1% per annum) and will be reviewed every three months. The ten-year loan has a three-year grace period, when only the interest will be paid. Repayment of the principal starts from the second half of 2014.
