Business news

MINSK, 11 May (BelTA) – Belarus will borrow up to $1.4 billion for building a mining and processing factory, representatives of the Belarusian Finance Ministry told BelTA.

The Belarusian Finance Ministry, China Development Bank, Belarusbank, and Slavkaliy have signed a memorandum of understanding. In line with the document Belarusbank will borrow up to $1.4 billion. The money will be spent on building a new mining and processing factory using raw materials of the Nezhinskoye section of the Starobinskoye potash salt deposit. The money will be borrowed against guarantees of the Belarus government.

Representatives of the Belarusian Finance Ministry also informed about other agreements signed during the visit of China President Xi Jinping to Belarus. The Finance Ministry and the Export-Import Bank of China signed two credit agreements on lending about $330 million for 12-15 years on preferential terms by the Chinese bank. The money will be used to finance two important investment projects. The first one is the turn-key construction of the engineering and transport infrastructure in the starting zone of the northern site in the initial development area of the China-Belarus Industrial Park. The second one is the organization of car assembly at SZAO BelGee in 2012-2030.

Apart from that, BelGee and the Export-Import Bank of China signed a credit agreement that will allow the Belarusian company to borrow about $88 million for ten years for the sake of building a car assembly factory. The loan will be granted against guarantees of the Chinese corporation Geely.

The Belarus government has acted as the guarantor for allocating a total of $1 billion in two 15-year-long credit lines for implementing projects in the transport industry, power engineering, production sector, infrastructure, and the small and medium business sector of Belarus. The relevant agreement has been reached by China Development Bank, Belarusbank, and the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus.

Long-term agreements worth about $3.5 billion were secured in the credit and investment sphere during the visit of China President Xi Jinping to Belarus.