Russian loans constitute major part of foreign loan repayments in Belarus
belsat.eu, based on information from TUT.BY 18 January 2019, 12:55
This year, 65% of Belarus’s payments on foreign state loans were used to repay loans to Russia and the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD), which is controlled by it. This follows from the publication of the Ministry of Finance “Budget of Belarus in 2019 for citizens”.
The total amount of payments on state loans in our country in 2019 will amount to 8.736 billion rubles, including: on external public debt — 5.8 billion rubles, on internal public debt — 2.929.
Exactly 2.929 rubles (33.5% of total payments) will be spent on the redemption of bonds on the domestic market, 2.749 rubles (31.5%) — on repayment of Russian loans, 1.333 rubles (15.4%) on Chinese banks loans, Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development — 1 billion rubles (12%), for payments on bonds in foreign financial markets – 363.9 million rubles (4.2%), World Bank loans — 274.4 million rubles (3,1%), other payments on state debt — 29.1 million rubles (0.3%).
The Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development is controlled by the Kremlin. Therefore, we can say that Belarus is to de facto repay Moscow more than 40% of its national debt. If you count only external public debt, the figure will be 65%.