Opinions & Interviews

Golovchenko speaks about projects to be funded using Russia’s $1.5bn loan

An archive photo

MINSK, 2 November (BelTA) – In a new episode of the Effects of Presidential Decisions project on BelTA’s YouTube channel Belarus’ Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko revealed what projects will be financed using the $1.5 billion loan from Russia.

As is known, this money is to be used to launch production of import-substituting products in Belarus. Belarus has the necessary competencies, but in order to fully meet the needs of the Russian market after the withdrawal of Western companies, Belarus needs to significantly expand and upgrade its production capacities.

Belarus has suggested more than a dozen import-substituting projects to Russia. According to Roman Golovchenko, the verification of business plans is underway now. Belarusian officials do not want to reveal details of the projects until all the necessary procedures are completed.

“Every project is scrutinized in order to decide whether funding should be provided for it. If a business plan is not workable, a project is rejected and other projects are considered. Only two projects have already been accepted. This is BelAZ (ring-rolling production) and the other one. Civil projects are worth about $1.2 billion, military projects are estimated at about $200 million. The projects have to do mostly with microelectronics. Almost all projects revolve around mechanical engineering,” the prime minister said.

The Industry Ministry clarified that the second project deals with timber machinery production at Amkodor. “This market niche used to see more competition, but today Amkodor is the only manufacturer of such products in the territory of the Union State,” said Yegor Chernyavsky, Head of the Foreign Economic Relations Department of the Industry Ministry.

“It is not so much about the amount of funding itself, but about the importance of support in the current conditions when the sanctions made it hard to get loans. In other words, I would not talk so much about the size of the loan, but about its importance and relevance, about its cost. After all, the Russian Federation offers fairly favorable terms, very good interest rates, and we see that the products that we will eventually sell will be competitive,” Yegor Chernyavsky emphasized.

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