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Russia expects loan agreement with Belarus ’within weeks’

26 April 2011 23:34 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Moscow and Minsk will agree on the terms of a Russian loan within the next two or three weeks, a Russian Finance Ministry official said on Tuesday, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.
Belarus has asked Russia for a $1 billion loan and the Moscow-controlled EurAsEC anti-crisis foundation for a $2 billion credit line to stabilize its domestic currency market.
Andrei Bokarev, director of the international finance department, said the sides were still to finalize the size of the loan and interest rates.
Russia has predicated any loans on credible economic reforms in Belarus.
Last Tuesday the Belarusian Central Bank announced plans to free float the Belarusian ruble, effectively devaluing the national currency, which is expected to lose about a third of its value.
The IMF has offered Belarus an assistance program conditional of a wage freeze, budget spending cuts and a number of other monetary and budget measures.
Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has said similar measures could also be a condition for the provision of Russian and EurAsEC loans.