OREANDA-NEWS  On 28 October was announced, that the global financial crisis will reshape the conditions of lending to Belarus, Economic Advisor of the Russian Embassy in Belarus Andrei Kuznetsov told commenting on the state loan that Belarus had applied for.

“The crisis will certainly affect the conditions, because Russia faced new borrowing terms,” he said.

At the same time, Russia aims to make the loan “as conformable as possible” for Belarus, he said.

“We are not interested in having a financial crisis in Belarus – we have a colossal trade turnover. Russian companies are interested in selling their components in Belarus, while Belarus must be concerned about the stability of the Russian market and its capacity to buy the same volume of Belarusian exports,” the diplomat said.

Kuznetsov said the loan had been agreed in principle.

“The two countries are negotiating technicalities – the term, servicing of interests and whether to provide funds in a single transfer or several tranches. I believe we will manage to agree, as there are no impassible barriers,” he said.

Russia in 2007 extended a 15-year U.S. USD 1.5 billion loan to Belarus at an annual interest rate of 0.75% over Libor. A five-year grace was granted to repay the loan, although interests will be charged during this period. Belarus had asked Russia to lend USD 1.5 billion in order to compensate for increasing prices of energy supplies.