Belarus to allocate $3 bln to pay off external debt, seeking sum's partial refinancing

MINSK. Nov 11 (Interfax) - Belarus will allocate around $3 billion to pay off its external debt in 2025, and a further $1.5 billion is required for debt servicing, Belarusian Finance Minister Yury Seliverstov said.

"The amounts for next year are big. The amount for paying off public debt is around 10 billion Belarusian rubles [approximately $3 billion at the current exchange rate]. Another 5 billion Belarusian rubles [$1.5 billion] for servicing. We'll work on refinancing public debt both on the domestic and external market in some way," he said in a comment provided to the media by the Finance Ministry.

The ministry expects to receive around $800 million from domestic market sources, he said. This includes around $300 million from issuing government bonds on the domestic market and $500 million in returns on funding provided for investment projects in Belarus, in particular the construction of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant.

Minsk anticipates refinancing part of its public debts to Russia. "The planned figure for attracting [funds in Russia] according to previously reached agreements is the equivalent of around 1 billion Belarusian rubles [$300 million]," he said.

Attracting funds from Russia to implement import substitution projects will continue next year, he said.

Seliverstov said at the end of 2023 that foreign debt repayments in 2024 would amount to around $2 billion, including $1.3 billion in external debt and $700 million in domestic debt, with the cost of servicing public debt projected at approximately $1.6 billion for the year.

According to data from the National Bank of Belarus, the country's external public debt stood at $17.05 billion at the beginning of July, up 0.6% since the start of the year. This includes loans and borrowing amounting to $14.34 billion, up 0.5%, and government debt securities of $2.71 billion, up 1.5%.