Page 26 - BELRptMar19

In November, Belarus’ Finance Minister Maksim Yermolovich told journalists that Minsk should repay around $5.4bn of the state debt in 2019-2020. "Some of the $5.4bn will be refinanced. In the to-be-refinanced part $2bn will be raised as untied credit resources, which we are going to get abroad by floating the relevant bonds for a broad spectrum of investors," he said.
Battered Belarus faces a new economic crisis if Minsk fails to secure full compensation from Russia for losses triggered by the latter’s new energy taxation system (the so-called tax manoeuvre), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a statement in January.
According to the Belarusian finance ministry, the country’s budget revenue losses from the tax manoeuvre in 2019 alone were estimated at BYN600mn ($300mn), and that the losses might total $2bn by the end of 2024.
On December 8, a spokesperson with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in a televised interview that Minsk already lost $3.6bn due to Russia's cut of energy subsidies to Belarus. Due to Moscow's 'tax manoeuvre' Belarus will lose extra $11bn within the next four years, the spokesperson added.
Foreign investors did not file any requests to take part in the privatisation of Belarusian mid-sized and large state-owned companies offered for sale by the government in 2018, head of the State Property Committee (SPF) Andrei Gaev told reporters on February 15. At the beginning of each year, the SPC draws up a list of government-controlled companies that can be sold to investors. "We received no requests from investors last year and there have not yet been any requests this year either," BelaPAN news agency quoted Gaev as saying. For years, Minsk has avoided privatising its major companies, the only significant exception being the sale of its gas pipeline system under Russian political pressure to Gazprom for $5bn in 2007-2011. The Belarusian authorities were unable to agree any significant privatisation deals due to high assets price, and some social and production conditions set by the authorities that made the project unprofitable and inefficient.
6.2 Debt
Source: CEIC
Belarus - Gross external debt 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Gross external debt (USD bn) 131,628 133,602 145,982 160,653 152,642 152,327 155,443
Gross external debt (% GDP)
53.0 54.6 50.7 51.9 58.1 76.1 74.8
Belarus seeks to secure a $600mn loan from the Russian government
with the aim of refinancing its debts, the nation's Finance Minister Maksim Yermolovich told journalists on February 27.
"We are talking about refinancing the entire sum of the payments on Russian government loans in 2019. The volume of these payments stands at $600mn," state news agency BELTA quoted the minister as saying. He added that Russia has not made the decision to grant the loan yet.
"As for our standard mechanisms of interaction as part of the work on the credit agreement, everything is ready, the draft resolution is prepared. It is now
26 BELARUS Country Report March 2019 www.intellinews.com