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Russia to lend $2 billion to Belarus in May - Lukashenko

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MINSK, May 09. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia will lend $2 billion to Belarus in May to help it replenish its gold and currency reserves, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday.

“We have agreed that Russia will transfer $2 billion to us, as was promised,” Lukashenko said, adding that the money would be transferred in May. The funds, in his words, would be used to boost Belarus’ gold and currency reserves.

The Belarusian president noted that at his talks in Moscow earlier this week the sides had agreed most sensitive for Minsk financial and economic issues. “We managed to find solutions to problems that are most sensitive for us,” he said. “We were not going around hat in hand, these were real compromise solutions.”

He stressed that next year his country’s budget would keep the sum of $1.5 billion Belarus used to transfer to the Russian budget as levies on sales of oil products. Moreover, Russia will transfer to Russia a sum of $500 million. “It means that Russia’s lending to our economy next year will amount to $500 million plus $1.5 billion we would earn from levies on oil products,” Lukashenko noted. “It is a big financial step on the part of Russia.

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