BBC: Belarusian dictator takes out risky loans
54- 12.10.2010, 12:35
The so-called Chinese investments could become a pyramid scheme.
The leadership of the both states agreed upon the credit line of 15 billion dollars for Minsk in the end of the last year. In furtherance of these agreements, on Monday in Beijing the leaders of Belarus and China signed documents on implementation of joint projects for 3.5 billion dollars. Lukashenka promises to build an entire China town in Minsk, and offered the partners the great space of the Customs Union.
Independent experts note however, that the Chinese-Belarusian project won’t bring quick money, which is so necessary for Belarus to solve its pressing problems.
“This won’t resolve the today’s urgent problem of financing the economy and social sphere in Belarus. This money cannot be spent on current problems. This is not direct investment; they are loans which are to begin with, to be paid back anyway. And secondly these are tied loans, and Chinese equipment and services of Chinese experts are to be paid for by them,” explains an economist Leanid Zlotnikau.
“Such investments are a very dangerous process; one could be drawn into a pyramid scheme. Last year more than a billion dollars were paid by us as interests and dividends to foreign investors, and the last half a year we have paid almost a billion! It is 4% of the GDP, it is a very high figure. Not much is left for Belarus after these payments,” Leanid Zlotnikau said.
According to Andrei Sannikov, a politician, Lukashenka hopes for such a geopolitical trump card very much.
“It is an attempt to find a new donor amid the critical aggravation of relations with Russia. And an attempt to demonstrate to Russia that Lukashenka has someone to establish relations with,” believes the former deputy Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs, and presently a possible rival of Lukashenka in the upcoming presidential race.
“But when ties with our neighbours are bad, the great friendship with China looks very insincere. When it is done hastily, just before the elections, it is a sham,” Andrei Sannikov states.
