Belarus to receive first loan tranche from EurAsEC in summer

MINSK, May 21 (Itar-Tass) -- The first tranche of a loan from the
Eurasian Economic Community's anti-crisis fund (800 million dollars) will
be disbursed to Belarus in the summer, and a second one, (over 400 million
dollars) in the autumn, Belarussian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich
told the media on Friday.
"The first tranche is estimated at 800 million dollars, and sometime
in the early autumn there is due a second one - a little over 400 million
dollars," he said, commenting on the results of a meeting of the EurAsEC
Interstate Council held in Minsk on December 19 at the level of the heads
of government and negotiations between Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Myasnikovich also said that, according to the agreements, Belarus
would get three billion dollars from the EurAsEC anti-crisis fund.
However, the head of the Belarusian government said that "it is not
the amount of money that can stabilize the situation on the foreign
exchange market" of the country. He said there must be "very serious
domestic decisions, and we will take them together with the National Bank
on Monday and Tuesday."
Myasnikovich believes that these decisions will become a "road map"
leading towards a reduction of money supply on the market.
"To prevent speculative attacks on the ruble a safety airbag will be
created, to a degree, with borrowed money," the Belarussian prime minister
said.