Lukashenka To Officials: Bring Action – There Is Enough Money In The World

The dictator has held a meeting dedicated to attracting external funding.

Lukashenka has said that the conditions for attracting foreign investments into the country must comply with the state interests.

According to him, one of the most important channels of obtaining loans is the banking sector: in the recent years, Belarus has developed business partnerships with a number of foreign banks that operate in the country, BelaPAN writes.

“You just need to bring some action, there is enough money in the world,” — Lukashenka has said. — Of course, no one would waste it. Still, our country has a favorable credit history, we never owed anything to anyone and we don’t plan to have any overdue credit resources or debts, so this should be used, and then work. We need to work with both the Western banks, and with our branches of the Russian banks. However, taking a loan it must never be forgotten that the economic security and the level of the forex reserves should remain sacred. These are the approaches to be used when defining reasonability of attracting external resources. There should be no rush for the scopes so that not to get into a trap of irredeemable debts. The conditions for attracting finances should comply exclusively with the state interests, and have clear perspectives and aim.”

According to the Belarusian state leader, it’s the real sector that needs resources firsthand: “The question is not how and where to find them. The focus will be on some specific loans that they offer us. It’s not just us asking credits from someone (which remains a normal practice), but our partners offer us credits today. They are mostly the Russian banks. We need to discuss the regulations for loaning, the cost of these loans, whether we should take them or not, and where to forward them. If there are concrete projects, the calculations of their real profitability, and they are acceptable, then it’s necessary to deal with the issue of external loans under the government’s guarantees.”

We remind, according to the Ministry of Finance, the foreign debt as of November 1 amounted to $ 13,5 billion, having increased to $1 billion 19,1 million, or by 8,2%, since the beginning of the year.

In January-October 2016, the foreign government loans for 1 billion 613,7 million US dollars were brought in: $800 million – from the Eurasia Foundation of Stabilization and Development; $393,2 million – from the government and the banks of the Russian Federation; $313,2 million – from the Chinese banks; $105,5 million – from the IBRD; and $1.8 million – from the EBRD and the NIB.

Belarus has also forwarded $ 719,2 million for the repayment of the external debt since the beginning of 2016: $ 264,8 million to the Eurasian Stabilization and Development Fund; $237,5 million – to the Government of the Russian Federation; $166,7 million – to the Bank of China; $ 49,4 million – to the IBRD; $0,7 million dollars – to the United States; and $0,1 million–to the EBRD and the NIB.