Belarus expects to get final tranche of EurAsEC ACF loan in Nov - MinFin
MINSK. Aug 8 (Interfax) - Belarus is hoping to get the next $440-million tranche of its loan from the EurAsEC Anti-Crisis Fund in November.
"I don't want to forecast any developments, but essentially we should take out a tranche this year, tentatively in November, if negotiations don't drag on," Belarusian Deputy Finance Ministry Maxim Yermolovich told reporters in Minsk on Thursday.
"According to the plan, we should finish the program in the nine-month period. After that there will be an analysis by Anti-Crisis Fund experts and a meeting of the Council," he said.
Belarus has no plans to take out any new foreign loans in the near future, although the government does intend to be active on the domestic market in the second half of this year, Yermolovich said.
"There is a desire to raise resources on the domestic market. These resources [domestic loans and the EurAsEC loan] will be fully sufficient to pay off our debts without any problems and without pressure on gold and forex reserves in the second half of the year," the official said.
"In the first half of this year, we were practically on the path to refinancing our obligations. We didn't plunge into gold and forex reserves to pay off our debts," Yermolovich said. "We're going to do roughly the same thing in the second half of the year - refinance by means of a domestic issue of forex bonds and taking out planned loans from abroad," he said.
Regarding plans to place domestic forex bonds, he said: "We'll have an auction sometime in September."
Belarus has plans to place up to $500 million in forex bonds on the domestic market in the second half of 2013: up to $400 million from corporations and up to $100 million from private individuals, Yermolovich said.
As reported, the EurAsEC Anti-Crisis Fund decided in June 2011 to provide Belarus with a $3-billion stabilization credit to support its balance of payments. This loan entails six tranches to be allocated 2011-2013. Minsk has already received five tranches worth a combined $2.56 billion.
At the end of June, the Anti-Crisis Fund Council approved a letter of intention written by the Belarusian authorities to which they will have to adhere in order to secure the sixth and final tranche. The Anti-Crisis Fund will hand over its conclusion regarding whether or not the parameters were observed in October, after it receives macroeconomic data on the state of the Belarusian economy for January-September 2013.