President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko today announced that Russia is ready to hold negotiations with the country on refinancing $ 1 billion of the debt. This will help to avoid the collapse of the Belarusian ruble, Lukashenko promises.

Alexander Lukashenko

President of Belarus

“We agreed with the President of Russia, and today our Prime Minister will negotiate with Mikhail Mishustin regarding the refinancing. <...> That is, we have this billion dollars, having agreed with Russia, we will leave "

Since the beginning of protests in Belarus, the national national vehicle is falling - the exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble fell to the March minimum to the dollar - 2.6558 rubles. Since the beginning of the year, the currency has already lost 21%for the American dollar, from the presidential election on August 9 - 7.3%.

In the exchange points of Belarus, since last week there is a shortage of currency, which the population is buying up, saving savings from devaluation. Not only dollars and euros, but also Russian rubles began to disappear in banks. These are the machinations of the opposition, Lukashenko believes (“Already openly, our domestic villains call to destabilize the financial market”).

On Tuesday, the Minister of Finance of Belarus, Yuri Seliverstov, said that in total this year the country should pay about $ 3.6 billion for the foreign exchange rate - $ 2 billion have already been paid. After such statements, the Kremlin said that they were ready to consider the issue of refinancing.

Today, Lukashenko, speaking of refinancing, emphasized that he would not allow the collapse of the national vascular. “If people want to buy a dollar, please, it costs how much it costs today. We have a floating course: the demand is large - it means that this dollar or euro will be more expensive, the demand is less - it means it will be cheaper. We, clinging to our hands, do not hold back the ruble course, ”the president said.

He emphasized that the country did not begin to use its gold and foreign exchange reserves. “People want to take their money or currency - please take it. We have absolutely enough reserves to keep an acceptable course for us at an acceptable level, ”said Lukashenko.

According to TUT.BY, the public debt of Belarus on July 1, 2020 amounted to 52.6 billion Belarusian rubles, increasing by 17.5%compared to the beginning of the year. The external public debt reached $ 18 billion (+5.3%), about 40% of it falls on Russia.

Updated

The Russian Ministry of Finance reported that Belarus has not yet applied for debt refinancing and such a request will be considered if it was received.

It also became known on Thursday that Sberbank’s branches in Belarus are turning out loans. Earlier this week, the Russian Ministry of Finance proposed limiting the state edits for Belarus, Venezuela and Cuba.