Sixth tranche of EurAsEC loan is postponed by six months

The Board of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC)'s Anti-crisis Fund has postponed by at least six months the allowance of the sixth financial credit.

The Board said that Minsk needed to devise and implement measures to fulfil the terms before it could receive the $440-million tranche, BelaPAN  reports. According to Sergei Shatalov, the Russian deputy chairman of the Board, Belarus had failed to meet 10 of the 14 targets set by the Anti-crisis Fund for the country this past June. 

Some of the targets have not been met because of external factors, namely Russia's slower economic growth, stiffer competition linked to Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization and a slump in world potash prices, said Mr. Shatalov. At the same time, he said, the Belarusian government's policies contributed to credit and wage growth contrary to its commitments. 

He described the Anti-crisis Fund's decision as "logical" and said that Minsk needed time to meet the targets. 

Mr. Shatalov welcomed a plan of action to reform the economy, which was adopted by the Belarusian Council of Ministers and the National Bank of Belarus earlier this year. He said that some of its measures had already helped reduce pressures on the rubel's exchange rate and slow down the depletion of the foreign exchange reserves.The Eurasian Development Bank, which administers the loan, will continue providing advice to Minsk over the implementation of the targets, said Mr. Shatalov. 

Let us recall that the first, $800-million tranche of the loan was made available to Belarus in June 2011. Another portion, $440 million, was provided in late December 2011. Belarus received the third tranche in mid-June 2012, the fourth one in January 2013 and the fifth one in April.