Russia transferred a portion of its $450-million loan to Belarus as far back as late December 2013, according to the press office of the National Bank of Belarus (NBB).
Following his talks with Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Moscow on December 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would lend up to $2 billion to Belarus in 2014. The following day the Russian government approved the issuance of the loan to Belarus and transferred the first tranche to the country before the end of the year, BelaPAN said.
The loan carries an annual interest rate of four percent and is to be repaid within 10 years. Belarus will start repaying the loan on January 15, 2017.
The disbursement of the loan portion, as well as the sale of government bonds denominated in the dollar contributed to a $192-million increase in Belarus' gold and foreign exchange reserves in December.
The reserves fell by $1,444.1 million to $6,650.9 million in 2013.
In June 2013, NBB head Nadzeya Yermakova expressed confidence that the nation’s gold and foreign exchange reserves would amount to between $8 billion and $8.3 billion at the end of the year.
