EFSD finalizes third credit programme for Belarus, no new applications followed

<p> MINSK, Dec 4 - PrimePress. The Eurasian Stabilization and Development Fund’s third lending programme for Belarus has been completed, the fund has no new applications to consider. </p> <p>   </p> <p> EFSD Executive Director Andrey Shirokov made a statement to this effect at the First Eurasian Congress on December 4. </p> <p>   </p> <p> The EFSD has no plans regarding new programmes for Belarus, said Shirokov. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “Formally, we do not have any new applications fr om the Belarusian government at the moment,” said Shirokov. </p> <p>   </p> <p> The EFSD provides funding to support the budget when necessary, explained Sergey Ulatov, advisor to the EFSD Executive Director. </p> <p>   </p> <p> "In the case with Belarus we already have three programmes over the 11-year course of EFSR existence. In our opinion, they have been extremely successful, although the first two programmes have not provided the funds planned - the last tranches - because the programme of government measures in the course of its implementation may change,” said Ulatov. </p> <p>   </p> <p> He added that in 2020 the fund plans to prepare an analytics of the programmes implemented in all the countries of its presence, including Belarus, in order to analyze the results of their work over the past 10 years, how much they have affected the processes at certain periods of time when the governments received them. </p> <p>   </p> <p> He noted that he considers the EFSD’s third lending programme for Belarus to be a success, as many serious structural and institutional measures have been announced within its framework, some of which have been implemented. </p> <p>   </p> <p> "Even formally this programme has been completed - the Belarusian side has audited all the funds used under the programme. We are now implementing an anti-crisis programme (an EFSR $500 million loan to combat COVID-19 – editor’s note). Next year we will send a mission to Belarus, perhaps virtually, wh ere we will consider our further cooperation in supporting the budget, assessing the situation and risks to the budget and balance of payments,” said Ulatov. </p> <p>   </p> <p> In spring 2016, the Ministry of Finance of Belarus and the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) signed an agreement a $2 billion loan to Belarus in seven tranches in 2016-2018 from the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD), the main donor of which is Russia. The sixth tranche was transferred to the Belarusian budget in Oct 2018 </p> <p>   </p> <p> The allocation of the seventh tranche was delayed. In May, the Minister of Finance of Belarus Maxim Yermolovich said that the conditions of the programme with the EFSR had been fully met and that Minsk had every reason to expect to receive the seventh tranche of $200 million. End </p>

2020-12-05

Primepress