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Crisis in Belarus

Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development may provide $500 mln loan to Minsk shortly

Russia will grant the loan to Belarus in two stages - $1 bln in 2020 and another $500 mln in 2021, according to the finance minister

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov Dmitry Astakhov/POOL/TASS

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov

© Dmitry Astakhov/POOL/TASS

MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. Moscow expects the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development to provide a $500 mln loan to Belarus shortly, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in an interview aired by the Rossiya-24 TV news channel on Monday.

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Lukashenko says Russia decided to issue a $1.5 bln loan to Minsk at his insistence

"So far we expect the following sequence: the Eurasian Fund may extend a $500 mln loan in the near future. For doing that, it is necessary to obtain the consent of that Fund’s member states," he said.

"We submitted proposals on voting for that loan to be provided to all members of the Fund today. Hopefully that will be done quickly," the minister added.

Russia will grant the loan to Belarus in two stages - $1 bln in 2020 and another $500 mln in 2021. Meanwhile, one half of the loan ($500 mln) will be provided in 2020 through the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development, whereas the second half - with the help of an interstate loan.

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