The first tranche of a $2-billion EFSD loan is to be transferred to Belarus in the next few days

moyby.com

The board of the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD) has approved a loan of $2 billion for Belarus.

According to the press office of the finance ministry, the loan will be used for supporting the government’s and the National Bank’s economic policy measures and structural reforms in the period between 2016 and 2018.

The loan will be provided in seven installments, BelaPAN informs. Each of the installments will have to be repaid within 10 years and will carry low interest rates for the first five years.

The first tranche of $500 million is expected to be transferred to Belarus in the next few days, the press office noted.

According to the EFSD website, the other six tranches will be provided after Belarus has completed certain conditions. In particular, there are plans to provide two tranches in 2016, three tranches in 2017 and one tranche in 2018.

Let us recall that Belarus formally requested financial assistance from the EFSD in March 2015. The government initially wanted to borrow $3 billion from the Russian-controlled fund, but the requested amount was later reduced to $2 billion. The EFSD board delayed a decision on the loan request for months, warning that Minsk had to display its commitment to economic reform.

In 2016, Belarus reportedly has to repay a total of about $1,150 million to the Russian government and the EFSD.