The European Commission has not yet made a decision on the Belarusian authorities’ application for macroeconomic support, Jean-Eric Holzapfel, charge d’affaires of the Commission’s delegation in the country, said in an interview with BelaPAN.
The assistance will be given, if Belarus complies with its commitments under the Stand-By Arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), if it receives insufficient funds from it and if the European Union has available money, Mr. Holzapfel said, noting that the Commission was now waiting for another report from the IMF. The Belarusian government applied to the EU for the support at the end of this past June.
The objective of the Macro-financial Assistance, which is supplementary to resources of the IMF and other multilateral donors, is to support third countries in crisis that are in close proximity to the EU. The support is usually in the form of either medium or long-term loans, combined with grants when considered necessary.
Mr. Holzapfel said that the budget of the EU’s annual action program for Belarus had been raised from EUR5 million to EUR10 million, noting that there are more programs under which funds could be made available for Belarus.
