Business news

MINSK, 5 February (BelTA) - Belarus expects to receive the sixth tranche of the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD) by the end of Q1 2018, Belarus’ Finance Minister Vladimir Amarin said during a Q&A telephone session on 3 February.

“We are now actively working with the EFSD and experts. I think we will get the sixth tranche in the first quarter. The seventh tranche will be issued on the evaluation of the results reached as of 1 January 2018. Therefore it will be disbursed later than the first quarter,” Vladimir Amarin noted.

He noted that Belarus is not planning to negotiate another loan agreement with EFSD after the completion of the current program.

BelTA reported earlier that on 25 March 2016 the Belarusian Finance Ministry and the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) signed an agreement on a $2 billion loan to be provided by the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD). The agreement envisages allocating the money to support economic policy measures and structural changes of the Belarusian government and the National Bank in 2016-2018. The economic policy measures and structural changes were approved by the EFSD Council.

The money shall be granted in seven tranches in 2016-2018. Belarus’ government budget received $200 million as the fifth tranche of the loan on 25 October 2017.