Translated material
Russia to Amend Tax Code for Promised Loan to Belarus
Russia will issue Belarus an interstate loan worth one billion dollars in two tranches in 2020 and 2021, Interfax reports, citing Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
Minsk will receive another 500 million dollars through the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development ( EFSD ), the minister specified.
An interstate loan will require amendments to the Tax Code, which will include Belarus among the countries to which Russia can provide such loans. According to Siluanov, the amendments have already been prepared.
The loan, as the minister said, is “generally anti-crisis support,” including “to combat COVID-19.” The loan repayment terms will be determined later.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin promised “at this difficult moment” a $1.5 billion loan at a meeting with Alexander Lukashenko on September 14, 2020.
- On September 16, Siluanov, answering the question of what Russia will receive when the loan is provided, said: “Russia will receive stability of our partner’s finances <…> guarantees of Belarus’s sustainable fulfillment of its obligations to Russian counterparties” (quoted by Interfax).