First tranche of Belarus loan dispatched on Tuesday - Kudrin
MOSCOW. June 21 (Interfax) - The first $800-million tranche of the EurAsEC Anticrisis Fund loan to Belarus was released on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told journalists.
"Belarus formally met all commitments by yesterday evening, and today the money is en route from Almaty," he said.
Kudrin said previously that the Belarusian Justice Ministry needed to submit an official note affirming that the loan agreement conforms with Belarusian law and the President Alexander Lukashenko needed to issue a decree to set up a development bank, which would take over control of non-core assets from the central bank.
The Anticrisis Fund approved a three-year loan to Belarus totaling $3 billion on June 4.
Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Slepnev had previously called for making the loan contingent on cancellation of Belarusian restrictions on imports from Russia. At the time Kudrin said the import restrictions violated Customs Union rules but were not in breach of the Anticrisis Fund loan terms.
Kudrin said the loan disbursement could in future be tied to cancellation of the trade restrictions. "If necessary, we will put a proposal to that effect before the Anticrisis Fund," Kudrin said last week.