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Belarus’ external public debt increased by $544.6 million in first five months of 2013, finance ministry says

 

Belarus’ external public debt increased by $544.6 million in the first five months of 2013 to $12.6 billion as of June 1, reported the finance ministry.

During the period, Belarus received $1,285.3 million in foreign loans, including $880 million in two loan tranches from the Anti-crisis Fund of the Eurasian Economy Community, $77.2 million in loans from Chinese banks, $51.4 million from the World Bank, and $276.7 million under the Russian government’s loan program for financing Belarus’ nuclear power plant project, the finance ministry said.

Belarus paid a total of $650.7 million toward the repayment of foreign loans, including $527.6 million to repay the principal amount of the International Monetary Fund’s stand-by loan, the ministry said.

According to the ministry, Belarus’ domestic public debt increased by 4.4 trillion rubels, or 16.9 percent, in the period to 30.23 trillion rubels. The increase was mainly caused by issues of foreign-currency government bonds, which totaled $582.5 million (5.1 trillion rubels), the ministry said.

Belarus’ overall public debt grew by 10.4 trillion rubels, or 8.1 percent, to 139.2 trillion rubels ($16,036.9 million). //BelaPAN