Belarusian MinFin confirms plans for additional placement of $210 mln in Eurobonds
MINSK. Feb 17 (Interfax) - The Belarusian Ministry of Finance confirms plans for the additional placement of $200 million in Eurobonds and the placement of 8 billion Russian rubles in state bonds in Russia, the head of the ministry's department for international relations and state debt, Andrei Smolsky, said at the international conference The Capital Market of the Republic of Belarus in Minsk on Thursday.
"We have the option of placing up to$200 million Eurobonds, as well as the possibility of entering the Russian market with a registered issue worth 8 billion Russian rubles," Smolsky said.
He said that the country's budget deficit for 2011 (6 trillion Belarusian rubles) will be partially financed through $1 billion in foreign borrowing, as well as domestic borrowing.
He said that the Finance Ministry placed $800 million in Eurobonds in January and was holding onto the option of implemented an additional bond issue.
Smolsky said that Belarus' total foreign state debt came to $9.7 billion (17.8% of GDP) on January 1, 2011. "All Belarus' external state loans are long-term. The average term for payment comes to 5.3 years," he said. Smolsky added that the risks for refinancing were low and that the cost of lending was not high.
However, Smolsky said that the secondary market for Belarusian Eurobonds "is the not the best situation for first and second issue even though it is too early to draw conclusions based on the results for one month."
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