Russia's Finance Ministry: Most of EFSD's loan for Belarus will be used to pay off debt to Gazprom

Moscow, September 21 – Neftegaz.RU. A bigger part of $500 million loan which Belarus is to get from the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD) will be used to pay off the debt to Russia's Gazprom to the tune of $330 million, Russia' Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in an interview to the TV program Moscow. Kremlin. Putin aired on the Rossiya-1 TV Channel.

“Belarus' debt to Gazprom is some $330 million. The loan we are discussing from the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development is $500 million,” Anton Siluanov said.

Belarus is Russia's reliable borrower. There have been no precedents of delays in loan repayments, the Russian finance minister said. “We think that it is a very good borrower," he said.

Earlier, Anton Siluanov told the media that Russia plans to provide Belarus with $1.5 billion loan in two stages - $1 billion in 2020 and $500 million in 2021. In 2020, half of the loan ($500 million) will be issued as part of the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development and the other part as an interstate loan.

The Russian minister said that Russia needs legislative amendments to provide an interstate loan. Once they are adopted, the work on providing the interstate loan will begin.

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