“Taking into account the shortfall in budget revenues associated with the work of the oil and gas sector, we are forced to send part of the balance of the republican budget, formed in foreign currency, to make payments on external public debt. It is planned to allocate $ 500 million of the reserves of the Ministry of Finance in foreign currency for these purposes, which makes up about 10% of all accumulated reserves, ”RIA Novosti quotes the head of the Ministry of Finance of Belarus, Maxim Ermolovich.
According to him, this does not create risks either for gold and foreign exchange reserves or for medium-term budget stability.
The draft budget for 2020 says that next year the repayment of the state debt will amount to 5 billion 977.3 million Belarusian rubles (about $ 2.9 billion).
Ermolovich previously stated that Belarus in 2019 intends to sign an agreement with China to receive a loan in the amount of $ 500 million.