The Finance Ministry of Belarus forecasts that the country’s state debt will grow to 42% of the GDP by late 2016. Vice Minister of Finance Yuri Seliverstov made a statement to this effect at the conference “The Role of the Export-Import Agency in the Belarusian Economy” on October 7, in Minsk.
Belarus’ state debt now stands at 38% of the GDP, which is approximately $18.4 billion.
Belarus’ state debt has been on the rise recently, so the government has been implementing a conservative debt strategy aimed at reducing the strain of debt repayment, Seliverstov said.
The government seeks to keep the state debt under 45% of the GDP, the vice minister said. In 2017 Belarus will transfer some $3-4 billion in debt settlement. 25% of that amount will be covered at the expense of non-debt resources (customs duties on exported oil products), while the other 75% will be financed at the expense of debt sources (credits, internal and external government bonds). Besides, the government will continue negotiating a new credit with the IMF, Seliverstov added. (Prime-TASS/Business World Magazine)
