Page 9 - BELRptFeb19

Currently Belarus buys the agreed volume of crude oil from Russia effectively without having to pay excise duties (although the exact setup is more complicated). However, in 2019, Moscow decided to cut the rate of duties on crude oil and simultaneously increase mineral extraction tax (MET).
Therefore, the price for Belarus would increase. Officials’ estimate that it would lose the equivalent of $300mn of fiscal revenues in 2019, and the effect would increase further as the Russian tax maneuver proceeded: the ultimate goal is to zero out export duty on crude oil.
2.1 EBRD invests a record €360mn into Belarus
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has invested more than €360mn in 21 projects in Belarus in 2018, the multilateral lender said on January 9, reports BelTA – the most the bank has ever invested in the republic since it launched its operations in the country.
According to preliminary estimates, Belarus will be in the Top 10 of the most active countries out of the bank’s 38 countries of operation for 2018.
“Last year was the most successful in the history of the Bank's operations in Belarus,” the head of the EBRD representative office in Belarus Alexander Pivovarsky told the media.
Among the EBRD's key promising projects in Belarus was a pilot project to modernize residential buildings to improve their energy efficiency. Together with the Belarusian government, the bank is working on new approaches to corporate governance in the public sector.
In 2018, the EBRD conducted approximately two thirds of its operations in the private sector, the rest in the public sector.
The EBRD earmarked the largest municipal loan of €84mn to Minskvodokanal, €5mn to the solid waste management company in Pukhovichi District and Cherven District of Minsk Oblast and also €42mn to complete the Minsk Ring Road 2 reconstruction project in 2018, amongst other projects.
9 BELARUS Country Report February 2019 www.intellinews.com