MINSK, December 7 (RIA Novosti) – The EurAsEC Anticrisis Fund on Friday approved the disbursement of a fourth, $440-million loan tranche for Belarus, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.
The next, fifth tranche will be tied to the implementation a state privatization program in the post-Soviet republic.
“We will review privatization [results] next year,” he said, adding that the fourth tranche was not linked to the privatization program.
EurAsEC’s program for Belarus is designed to rectify the country’s serious economic imbalances, low gold and foreign exchange reserves and high inflation, Belarusian Finance Minister Andrei Kharkovets said.
“We will assume obligations to pursue an austere credit policy, budget policy,” he said.
The $3 billion loan agreement between Belarus and the Eurasian Bank for Development, which manages EurAsEC Anticrisis Fund resources, was signed in June 2011. The loan is to be disbursed in six tranches.