EDB confirms plans to finance projects in Belarus totaling $1.5 bln by 2026

MINSK. June 28 (Interfax) - The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) will finance projects in Belarus totalling $1.5 billion in the period to 2026, EDB chief executive Nikolai Podguzov said at the bank's annual meeting and business forum in Almaty.

"Country strategies have been adopted in every country where we operate. For Belarus, we agreed on investments in the equivalent of $1.5 billion by 2026. We are approximately proceeding according to the schedule that we outlined," Podguzov was reported as saying by state news agency BelTA.

He recalled that "financing of the Prilesye Logistic logistics complex began last year." There are also plans to finance Servolux, one of the largest poultry meat producers in Belarus, he said. "Other countries have an interest in Servolux's operations in the Eurasian space," Podguzov said.

"The planned work is underway. We're confident that we will certainly carry out the strategy that we outlined with our Belarusian colleagues," he said.

Podguzov said in December that the EDB was considering financing a number of projects in Belarus in the transport and electricity sectors, technology, healthcare and financial sector, with an emphasis on project financing and the private sector.

The EDB approved a five-year strategy in mid-2021 that includes plans to partially replace international financial institutions' investments in the Belarusian economy lost due to western sanctions, and calls for $1.5 billion in financing for the country in 2022-2026. The bank's current investment portfolio in Belarus exceeds $1 billion.

The EDB is an international development bank with charter capital of $7 billion. Its shareholders are Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The EDB's strategy calls for investing almost $11 billion in the economies of shareholder countries in the period to 2026.