Belarus pays $24 mln on 2026, 2030 Eurobonds in national currency

MINSK. Aug 25 (Interfax) - The Belarusian Finance Ministry has paid interest in Belarusian rubles equivalent to $24 million on Eurobonds maturing in 2026 and 2031, the ministry said in a statement.

The interest was paid on August 21 and 25.

The ministry said $0.5 million was paid to holders of Belarus-2026 bonds as part of their substitution for domestic bonds.

The amount was credited to a separate bank account opened with the state-owned Belarusbank, in the prescribed manner.

The payments for the previous coupon period on the two bond issues were the equivalent of $38.6 million and were made on February 24.

Belarus placed two tranches of Eurobonds in June 2020: $500 million maturing in February 2026 and $750 million maturing in February 2031. Yield on the five-year Eurobonds was 6.125%, and on 10-year Eurobonds it was 6.325%.

The Finance Ministry launched a campaign to replace Eurobonds with domestic government bonds in December last year. It replaced Belarus-2026 and Belarus-2031 Eurobonds with domestic government bonds for a total of $476.3 million in February this year.