Lukashenka Will Be Left Without Russian Loans

This year Russia is forced to take a break in the provision of new loans to other countries under budget constraints.

The Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said that to RIA Novosti.

“For today, I believe that the chances of the government to take a decision on granting new loans are very small. The budget is tense, highly tense. I think we are objectively in a situation where we are forced to take a break from the point of view of making commitments on new loans“, – he said.

According to him, the adoption of new commitments to extend credits to foreign borrowers in the current budgetary environment is associated with increased risk and the risk of fulfillment of the obligations in the future.

The deputy minister stressed that Russia would perform all the past commitments. “Last year we signed quite a lot of loan agreements. We undertook great commitments. And not to fulfill commitments on extended credits is more shameful than not to fulfill the obligations on loans that have been taken out. There can’t be a bigger shame to any creditor,” – he said.

Answering the question about the possibility of providing a five $ 5 billion credit to Iran, which was being discussed by the parties, Storchak admitted that such an agreement had not been concluded. “Negotiations are being held. There is a distance between negotiations and taking commitments”, – he said.