On 21 December the Belarus parliament ratified the Belarusian-Russian agreement which provides for Russia to supply an export loan for Belarus’ nuclear power station construction project.
First deputy finance minister Vladimir Amarin stated that the loan would be up to $10 billion. It will be provided for 25 years, with the option to postpone the repayment by ten years at most.
The loan will be taken up in installments untill 2021, the projected build period, so that the debt will be accumulated during those ten years alongside the construction of the nuclear power plant. This arrangement will allow Belarus to keep its foreign debt at an economically safe level despite its considerable volume of borrowings at present.
